Zoey Duncan
The tourism industry can be a tough go these days. But for faithful tourists to the district, a visit is anything but tough.
“When I come up here and go into our cabin, I’m coming home, that’s how much we love it,” said Mary Hall, who is spending this week at her cabin on Redgut Bay along with her husband, Mike.
The couple make the trip north from Sartell, Mn. six or seven times each summer—a tradition they’ve kept up since 1975.
“We built a cabin and we come up here and we fish, we pick blueberries, and I take pictures of wildflowers, and we have our grandchildren up here,” Hall noted.
“I think this country is just so incredibly beautiful,” echoed her husband.
“It’s as close to nature as we can get without really living in a tent,” he reasoned.
“It’s pretty nice, we like it, and obviously we keep coming back.”
As part of an effort to continue promoting the province both here and abroad, Ontario Travel Information Centres are holding their annual Tourism Week celebrations June 6-10.
Locally, things kick off this Friday (June 3) with an open house from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., with cake at noon to be served by Kenora-Rainy River MPP Howard Hampton.
The event will feature displays from district tourist attractions, including the Fort Frances Museum, the Rainy Lake Conservancy, Rainy River Field Naturalists, Totem Resort at Sioux Narrows, and others.
There still is an opportunity for those in the tourism industry to add their information to the display, which will run throughout Tourism Week.
Visitors who drop by the tourist centre during the open house, or throughout the summer, also will have a chance to enter a draw to win one of four Ontario getaway packages.
The final draw will be held Sept. 15.
The Ontario Travel Information Centre here is a hub for travellers both new and experienced.
“I always stop in here,” said Mary Hall. “Those gals are so helpful.
“They’ve given me all these good ideas of what to look at so we love it,” she added.
The centre also sells fishing licences and distributes free Ontario road maps and up-to-date tourism publications, including provincial park and camping guidebooks and brochures.
As well, centre staff are available to suggest ways to enjoy the province.
“I’ve learned tons about my own province [working here], my own district, never mind my own province,” said Shannon Gibson, who is working at the centre for her fourth-straight summer.
“Just different little things that I didn’t realize existed.
“On Saturday, we had a group that I’ve seen the last four years in a row and it’s just really nice seeing people over and over again, and hearing their stories and joking around with them,” Gibson added.
“It’s always interesting to see what they’ve been doing over the years.”
U.S. visitors have been filing across the border at a good pace since the walleye opener on May 21, noted centre team leader Bev Noga.
“It’s been positive so far,” she remarked. “We have had lots of people come in the door who we’ve seen previous years.
“We get a lot of people that come up, return every year. It’s always nice to see those same people.”
Provincially, tourism spending hit $22 billion in 2008, with nearly 18 million out-of-province visitors coming through.
