Business Improvement Areas and Tourism in Urban Neighbourhoods

 Tourism is a vast phenomenon, with substantial economic, social, and environmental impacts for travellers, residents, businesses, and communities (Mason, 2015). Much attention is given to urban destination marketing (e.g. Papadimitriou, Apostolopoulou, & Kaplanidou, 2015), and tourism’s potential for economic and social development in rural or developing world communities (e.g. Lane & Kastenholz, 2015). However, the existing and potential role of tourism in urban residential neighbourhoods has received limited attention. Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) are “association[s] of business people within a specified district, who join together, with official approval of the City… aimed at stimulating local business… [serving] as an economic and social anchor, helping to stabilize and revitalize the local community” (TABIA, 2018b). There are 82 BIAs across Toronto’s diverse neighbourhoods, and many more across the province and country (OBIAA, 2018). However, despite their number, there is limited research on BIAs in general, and specifically on tourism (Ward, 2006). The purpose of this exploratory study, therefore, is to explore and understand BIAs’ roles and actions relating to tourism such as product development, marketing, management, and socio-cultural and economic implications, drawing from interviews with 30 BIAs in Toronto.