Interests
Several areas of interest drive my curiosity and motivate my research agenda:
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cannabis tourism and agritourism
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regulated consumption spaces and social use
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destination management and place branding
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rural and community development
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social responsibility and normalization
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service-dominant logic and sustainability
Contribution & Relevance
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is a bridge between regulation and tourism practice;
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supports governments, destination organizations, and public institutions seeking evidence-based insight into navigating cannabis within evolving regulatory frameworks;
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contributes to a growing body of knowledge on cannabis tourism as a public policy and destination management issue.
This work lends itself to collaboration across a range of academic, policy, and applied contexts.
My research: ​​​
Funded Projects
2022-2023
Cannabis Agritourism: International Perspectives
Ontario Agri-Food Alliance, a collaboration between the Government of Ontario and the University of Guelph.
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Cannabis provides a fresh take on agritourism. The purpose of this research is to assess the potential for a cannabis agritourism framework in Ontario (and Canada more broadly). The ways agricultural production becomes part of the tourism product is well addressed in the context of wine, but cannabis is a new and unexplored area. Like visitor experiences at wineries, cannabis agritourism presents opportunities for facility tours, sampling rooms and purchasing product grown on site (i.e., farmgate).​​Broadly, the research interprets the cannabis supply chain from the perspective of tourism, hospitality and service.
2022-2023
Cannabis Farmgate Sales in Canada and Opportunities for the Tourism Industry: A Value Chain Perspective
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC): Insight Development Grant
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The development of cannabis farmgate sales in Canada and the impact it has on tourism are the focus of this study’s investigation. Farmgate sales allows for a licensed producer or micro-grower to sell cannabis directly to the consumer at at the facility in which it was grown. Value chain theory is used to determine the extent to which farmgate connects agriculture and tourism by way of creating new opportunities for cannabis growers in the tourism industry.
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2021-2022
Cannabis Tourism Research Study: Prospective Cannabis Tourists in Canada
New Heights Cannabis
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Central to this research project is understanding the interests, preferences, and characteristics of prospective cannabis tourists in Canada. The aim of the research is to generate a working knowledge of a new type of consumer and to document the characteristics of a new market segment by developing a profile of the Canadian cannabis visitor. In determining the different ways that different people are interested in incorporating cannabis into their vacation/trip/travel, the opportunities for businesses to develop products around demand can be identified along with actionable items businesses can take to develop these products/experiences.
2020-2022
Social Responsibility as Best Practice for Cannabis Tourism Suppliers in Canada
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)
This study lays the foundations for framing cannabis tourism as a form of social responsibility in which suppliers implement best practices to keep the tourist safe. Social responsibility is used as a framework to understand cannabis tourism as an avenue for risk reduction. A socially responsible cannabis tourism strategy is concerned with public health policy designed to reduce the potentially harmful consequences of consumption, while, at the same time, promoting a safe way to enhance recreational experiences and wellbeing.