Abstract
Because British Columbia, Oregon and Washington are similar in terms of demographic and geographic characteristics, it could be expected, a priori, that their tourist accommodation industries would be similar. However, the research shows that due mainly to vagaries in the British Columbia liquor licensing regulations the structure of the provincial hotel industry is dissimilar to its U.S. counterparts, being characterized by a large proportion of inefficiently small units. Investigation of ownership links reveals that hotel enterprise concentration is higher in the U.S. Pacific Northwest than in British Columbia, and that the major hotel chains operate on both sides of the border. It is also shown that a significant percentage of the British Columbia industry is controlled by U.S. multi-nationals.
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