The Bay beckons: new association looks to attract more tourism to North Bay.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay
• Position: NORTH BAY

A new organization in North Bay is aiming to bring together local stakeholders to boost tourism in the city.

Launched a year ago, the Tourism North Bay Association is comprised of hotel operators, restaurants, events, and attractions.

Led by a board of directors consisting of member representatives, the overarching goal of the group is to attract more tourism activity to the city, following four pillars: capacity building, marketing, bid funds, and product development.

Steve Hollingshead was hired as the association's director in December. Originally from Sault Ste. Marie, Hollingshead has more than 17 years of experience coordinating and managing special events and sports tournaments.

He's served as manager of sales and marketing for Northern Ontario's Algoma Country and manager of special projects and sports tourism for Sault Ste. Marie.

In North Bay he sees opportunity.

"North Bay seems to be a very progressive and forward-thinking community," he said. "They've embraced the idea of having someone behind the helm of their tourism department, which is me, and I think that they see the value in partnerships."

The community is one of only two in Northern Ontario--the other is Sault Ste. Marie--where a surcharge is implemented on hotel room taxes. That goes into a larger pot of money, the Tourism Infrastructure Fund (TIF), which is then used for tourism marketing efforts in the city.

Part of Hollingshead's job will be to direct those funds so that the organization gets the best bang for its buck.

"That money comes through a third-party agreement that we've made where we then use those funds to help market North Bay as a viable four-season destination for meetings, conventions, sporting events, and tourism attractions," Hollingshead said.

"It's all about trying to get people to North Bay and realize the economic spinoff from tourism spending."

The association's board met in late January to look over an initial plan for the year.

Pending budget approval, some immediate goals include creating a new visitor guide, updating the Tourism North Bay website, and increasing the group's social media presence.

Hollingshead also wants to bring on more partners for the organization. Currently, four hotels and Canadore College's residence are on board, and he's worked closely with Laurentian Ski Hill. But he'd like to see more local restaurants and attractions participate as well.

"That's the real key here, to get other partners on...