Applying a path creation lens to understanding resort evolution

While the evolution of tourism destinations has been a long-standing area of interest for tourism geographers, evolutionary economic geography (EEG) perspectives offer new opportunities for understanding the drivers of change over both space and time. Recent theoretical developments in this area have evolved from the original focus on path dependency to include new constructs such as the lens of 'path creation' - the focus of this paper. Drawing upon examples from research to understand how the resort of Whistler, British Columbia is shifting its trajectory from a growth-dominated approach towards one guided by principles of sustainability, illustrates the role of human agency and entrepreneurship in this path creation process.