Peter Williams

Education

• BA, Geography, University of Ottawa
  
• MA, Geography, University of Waterloo
• Ph.D. Tourism and Outdoor Recreation, Utah State
• MCIP (Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners) and RPP (Registered Professional Planner)

Biography

Dr. Peter Williams is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. His academic and professional background is rooted in geography, recreation land use planning, and strategic tourism development policy. Over his three-decade career at SFU his responsibilities included graduate level teaching and mentoring, research programming, and stints as Director of the School and its Centre for Tourism Policy and research

His outreach commitments focused on pursuing academic and professional affiliations that kept the Centre’s agenda fresh and focused on ‘research that matters’. In the Centre’s case, this meant prioritizing the creation of timely, evidence-based information, and delivering findings critical to the advancement of more sustainable, resilient and competitive forms of tourism in British Columbia.

Some of the more influential and pioneering research themes addressed by him and his research team included the development of:

• Ski industry economic, social and environmental management monitoring
• Resort development energy, water, and transportation eco-efficiency modeling
• Crown land commercial and public recreation allocation protocol assessments
• Agricultural Land Reserve agri-tourism allocation protocols  
• Growth, sustainability and resiliency management systems for resort destinations
• Indigenous cultural tourism market ready product development strategies
• Wine tourism market, product development and management protocols
• Sport fishing and product development strategies
• Tourism led amenity migration impacts and community policy options  
• Corporate governance impacts on destination management
• Olympic Games’ social and reputational capital monitoring systems  

Over the years, Dr. Williams and several of his collaborators have been formally recognized by professional and academic organizations for the quality and relevance of their leading edge research.   As a Professor Emeritus, he continues to mentor researchers and explore the ever-evolving nature of tourism development.