E. Wanda George

Background

About E. Wanda George

Dr. Wanda George is Adjunct Professor and Researcher, Department of Business Administration and Tourism and Hospitality Management, Mount Saint Vincent University. Her research and scholarship concentrates on the complex relationships and interconnections amongst tourism, commodification of local culture, community change and rural sustainability. Much of her research focuses on rural Canada. She co-authored the book,"Rural Tourism Development"(Channel View Publications, UK). In 2006, she studied residents' attitudes and perceptions towards tourism development and community change related to the World Heritage designation of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. In 2010, she completed a study of residents' attitudes and perceptions towards tourism development in Les Îles de la Madeleine, Quebec. Her most research project (2012-14) is an investigation of global attitudes and opinions concerning the protection and preservation of the heritage landscapes of the First World War considered by many to have outstanding universal value (for overview of initial results, visit She currently (2014) leads a project in Canada to commemorate the Centennial of the First World War She is Founding Director of the World Heritage Tourism Research Network a collaboration of international researchers, formed in 2008, whose goal is to develop an interdisciplinary research agenda to investigate tourism, cultural and heritage management issues at World Heritage Sites (WHS). She has worked with researchers in Peru, Belgium, USA and Finland on projects related to tourism at WHS. Author of several publications, her most recent article "World Heritage, Tourism Destination and Agricultural Heritage Landscape: The Case of Grand Pré, Nova Scotia, Canada" published in the Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2013, Vol.4 (3), pp.275-284. Grand Pré was designated in July 2012 by UNESCO as Canada's 16th World Heritage Site.