Encouraging Northern Ontario tourism.

• Author: Stewart, Nick
• Position: NEWS

With a tourism industry in decline, Ontario governmental agencies are speaking with industry representatives to formulate a five-year marketing strategy for the North.

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"We have what's almost the perfect storm right now," says Gerry Cariou, executive director, Sunset Country Travel Association.

"There's issues surrounding passports, there's the issue surrounding the strong Canadian dollar, and people are being turned back at the border much more frequently. Some people would say we're in freefall, and while I wouldn't go quite that far just yet, we're certainly in trouble."

Representing 500 outfitters and other members from west of Thunder Bay to the Manitoba border and up to the James Bay coast, Cariou says the discussions surrounding the Five-Year Tourism Marketing Strategy for Northern Ontario is a step in the right direction.

The project is an initiative of the Strategic Tourism Development and Marketing Partnership for Northern Ontario. This represents a partnership between Industry Canada/FedNor, Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation. It also includes the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation (OTMPC), an agency of Ministry of Tourism.

"The end game in all of this is to align and coordinate our marketing activities," says Chris Milner, director, Northern Marketing, OTMPC. "This way, we have the most effective marketing push we possibly can to interest people in Northern Ontario, and that's from Timmins to Red Lake, from the Quebec border to Manitoba."

To highlight the challenges faced by the tourism industry, Milner quotes a Statistics Canada report which found January's same-day car travel to Canada from the United States fell below a million trips for the first time since record-keeping began in 1972.

To help rectify the problem, while navigating the differences between northeastern and northwestern Ontario, the partnership recently sought input from the tourism community.

From April 24 to May 4, meetings were held in eight cities across the North, from Dryden to North Bay. Approximately 300 industry representatives were in attendance throughout the various meetings to voice their opinions on what steps should be taken to move the project forward.

Though hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities still rank foremost among tourism opportunities...