Duane Hicks
As efforts continue to acquire the shuttered Ontario Tourist Information Centre here, the use of students to deliver information sheets to tourists crossing the border this summer saw positive results.
The students began in the first part of June and worked through the first half of August, noted Geoff Gillon, regional economic developer with the Rainy River Future Development Corp., who gave a quarterly activity report to town council Monday night.
“By the end of July, the first part of August, the results were positive,” said Gillon.
“It’s definitely to our benefit, as the Town of Fort Frances, to be the first information point for tourists coming across the border,” he reasoned.
Coun. Ken Perry said the town’s Economic Development Advisory Committee kicked around the idea of having someone at the border handing out information, and it was good to hear that having someone there for face-to-face interaction with tourists is “still worth something.”
“It’s not all Internet stuff,” he remarked, referring to the fact that part of the Ontario Tourism Marketing Corp.’s rationale for closing the tourist centre here was the assertion that its focus should be on online marketing.
Gillon said he personally saw tourists come over the border, go to the OTIC, and try to get in, not knowing it was closed.
But he reiterated having the students as a first contact point for tourists was positive.
“We get to say, ‘Here we are. These are our facilities, these are the things going on in our area,’ before we pass them on to the rest of the province,” reasoned Gillon.
“It’s a little selfish, but. . . .”
“So, maybe people really don’t know what they are going to do when they cross this border?” asked Coun. Perry.
“A lot of them don’t,” replied Gillon. “They just want to go to Canada, and they know they’re going to go fishing for a couple days.”
The RRFDC obtained three grants to subsidize costs, and hired two students to work at the border during key hours as well as at community events to distribute information.
They also put Fort Frances brochures at the local museum and Sorting Gap Marina.
The students also removed all relevant brochures from the OTIC after it was closed, and provided information and training to Sorting Gap staff.
As well, they purchased display racks from the OTIC and will place these at the Sorting Gap next summer.
The RRFDC, meanwhile, has informed Infrastructure Ontario of the town’s interest in renting or purchasing the OTIC building and are awaiting a response.
“It’s something that, as a community, we’ve got to wrestle with,” stressed Gillon.
“It doesn’t look like they’re going to reopen the tourist information centre anytime soon, so this is another task for us.”
“We are trying and trying and trying to get that facility so that we can use it as a viable part of our community,” noted Mayor Roy Avis.
In related news, the RRFDC received a grant of $10,000 from the OTMC to pay for the “re-wrappping” of a sign in International Falls leading tourists to Fort Frances.
The sign directs tourists to a 1-800 number.
Other economic development activities have included:
•working on the “Go Local” project, which officially will launch in October;
•attending several prospecting and mining shows, and mailing packages to 260 suppliers to encourage them to do business in Fort Frances;
•holding a training session on social media and working with a consulting group to develop a strategy to market the town using social media (a Twitter campaign began this summer); and
•working with the OTMC to promote events and visitor packages in Fort Frances (the campaign ran in southern Manitoba, and included web, print, television, and radio advertising).
Also at Monday night’s meeting, council:
•approved an application for Northern Community Investment Readiness funding so an assessment can be done of the industrial park here;
•referred an annual per capita marketing contribution request from the Sunset Country Travel Association to the Administration and Finance executive committee for its recommendation;
•referred an advertising request from the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, re: its 31st-annual induction dinner on Sept. 29, to the Administration and Finance executive committee for its recommendation;
•referred a financial request from the Thunder Bay and Area Disaster Relief Committee, re: assistance to victims affected by spring flooding, to the Administration and Finance executive committee for its recommendation;
•passed a bylaw to approve an agreement with Ed Kaun & Sons Ltd. re: cemetery garage upgrades; and
•referred a request from the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association to support a model resolution from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, re: development of a new long-term federal plan for municipal infrastructure funding, to the Administration and Finance executive committee for its recommendation, with input from the Operations and Facilities executive committee.
