Northern Ontario’s tourism front is set to undergo a radical image change over the next five years, led regionally with an infusion of $1 million to promote Northwestern Ontario in the U.S. Midwest.
“It is $1 million that we’ve never seen before. I think it’s a remarkable step in the right direction,” said Jerry Fisher, president of the Northwestern Ontario Tourism Association (NWOTA).
NWOTA will hold meetings this month to hammer out strategies and specific plans for the new funding, which will be spent advertising the highlights of tourism in Northwestern Ontario.
The money is slated for a year’s worth of marketing throughout 2008 in a major U.S. Midwest market yet to be determined.
The advertising windfall comes as the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corp. (OTMPC) is instituting a new five-year plan with an emphasis on rebranding Northern Ontario to potential tourists, including a unified online strategy and a stressing of the positive views tourists already have of the region’s rugged beauty and friendly people.
The OTMPC is responsible for part of the new funds, with the other two contributors being FedNor and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp.
Fisher said the three contributed more or less equally to the $1 million.
And while this funding is brand new, Fisher said it is intended as part of a sustained advertising plan for Northwestern Ontario—and so should continue into the future in some capacity.
Meetings to come will decide on the specifics, but the tentative plan is to blitz either Chicago, Milwaukee, or Minneapolis with $1 million worth of advertising “marketing Northwestern Ontario as a destination because Ontario nor Canada—neither of them—are marketing at all in the Midwest,” said Fisher.
“And we’re raising money to compete with those other destinations that are constantly bombarding our customers with advertising,” he added.
While the funding amount sounds large, Fisher insisted it’s just a good first step. He noted the state of Wisconsin—a rival destination—has an annual marketing budget of $7 million for tourism.
The focus will be the promotion of new website set up as a one-stop online destination for potential tourists interested in the area.
Specifics about the website, as well as other details about the marketing initiative, will be decided later this month—well in advance of the 2008 marketing year.
Fisher said exotic locales like tropical Mexico are responsible for the bulk of destination marketing throughout the U.S. Midwest.
Coupled with so many potential tourists living within driving distance, it was a natural fit for NWOTA to focus its energy—and dollars—on promoting this corner of the province south of the border.
The big budget advertising plan coincides with a new, smaller scale “Northwestern Ontario Destinations” project being launched to promote the region next year.
The project, spearheaded by NWOTA and the Kenora District Campowners Association (KDCA), will collect a fee from tourists staying in the region to put towards advertising and promotional initiatives throughout Northwestern Ontario.
“It’s the big picture-type marketing where we charge customers a percentage for their stay in Ontario, and we use that money to promote Northwestern Ontario as a destination,” Fisher explained.
He added this type of levy is commonplace throughout tourism destinations across North America. A tourist spending $2,000 for a stay at a resort could expect to pay a fee of around $3, Fisher noted.
Many tourist destinations use a similar model, including one formed by the Kenora Hospitality Alliance.
That group, made up of Kenora area hotels, attaches a $1 “Kenora Destination Marketing Fee” to all overnight stays to fund advertising initiatives throughout the year.
Around $60,000 is raised each year through these levies, which KHA president Renelle Wallace said goes towards “advertising of some sort or any way to promote Kenora as a tourism destination.”
That includes TV ads, websites, promotional calendars, promotions at major local tourist-oriented events—most anything “as long as it’ll promote bringing people into Kenora.”
These new advertising initiatives follow a season in which two-night-plus visits to Northwestern Ontario were up by about one percent. But in terms of initial feedback, business at local tourist camps fell, said Fisher.
“It’s kind of hard for me to have anything to say about it because I’m hearing from operators that business is down, but border crossings is up. So, it’s a tough call,” he admitted.
As for what’s keeping tourists away from the area, it’s the same old story, said Fisher, although the Canadian dollar being its strongest in 30 years is “probably the biggest” single cause.
“I think that the information that our operators are getting is that the exchange rate, and psychologically the gas prices, even though it doesn’t make that much a difference in the trip cost,” he noted.
However, he added the “biggest issue” long-term among operators he’s spoken to is still the border and the “minor criminal policy” that, according to Fisher, sees American tourists with criminal records for less-than-critical infractions denied entry to Canada.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
