Promoting staying close to home this summer is a good idea

Northwestern Ontario residents are already being bombarded with television commercials and travel information for summer vacations in Manitoba, North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The promotion focusing on staying close to home and enjoying affordable family vacations makes for a good argument.
In these tough economic times, the expense of a family vacation can be greatly reduced by staying close to home. Yet here in Northwestern Ontario, the province of Ontario remains silent. In its report “Discovering Ontario” Greg Sobera is quoted “Ontario needs to be more committed and aggressive participant in the global market.”
I believe that everyone is in agreement that the province should become more aggressive attracting tourists to this region. The success of the region to date has had very little to do with government spending on focal attractions such as the Ontario Art Gallery, Science North, but everything to do with the natural unspoiled green environment.
The report has suggested that the province be divided into 11 regions with one region extending from the Manitoba Border to Sault Ste. Marie. Currently, that geographical area is served by two distinct associations “Sunset Country” and “North of Superior”.
Sunset Country is already well established as a region offering vacations in 440 accommodations and generating over 12,000 full year jobs with a payroll of almost $400 million.
Sunset Country attracts the majority of its tourists from the central Midwest (Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Illinois.) It is a unique visitor base not found in any other region of Ontario.
When seeking to attract Canadians to the region, a region the size of France, the highway, air and rail links from large Canadian cities are extremely week. Yes improvements by other provincial ministries would make getting to Northwestern Ontario easier.
Kenora hotel keepers have already established a successful Destination Marketing Fee (DMF) that in 2008 provided $120,000 for marketing Kenora. Led by Gerry Fisher, camp owners have now been working for two years to establish a DMF for Sunset Country. It has been a slow process with sporadic success. The recommendation from the report that where a region establishes a DMF, such a fee would become mandatory for all accommodations businesses and the money would flow to directly marketing the industry is very good.
It would create new funds for tourist areas to market themselves with. Combined with matching funding from the Federal and provincial governments, it would help put Sunset Country region on a more even footing with the states and provinces it already is competing against.
Government programs and assistance cannot alone promote the region anymore than creating a larger region will make tourism business better.
Our region, Ontario’s Sunset Country is unique in the country and offers visitors a unique opportunity to enjoy unspoiled wilderness and nature. We must recognize this within ourselves and each resident of the region must share in telling the stories with pride of our history and our land.
–Jim Cumming,
Publisher