It’s time for Bruce, Grey and Simcoe Counties to get a “sense of place” about their region and sell the stories to take their respective areas to the next level of successful tourism.
Tourism consultant Valerie LeBlanc kicked off the 12th annual Tourism Conference, at the CAW Family Education Centre in Port Elgin with that message.
LeBlanc told a couple of hundred tourism workers that there are several generations of people that visit the counties but there is a new tourist market out there ready to be tapped.
She says the new visitor is younger and has many more choices about where to visit and lots more opportunities as well.
LeBlanc says they’re looking for a richer, improve-your-life experience when they spend their tourist dollars.
She says this region has exactly that but we’re not making it a part of telling people what we have.
LeBlanc says rhyming off a list of things to do is not going to cut it with the new tourist but stories will.
She says good, interesting legacy stories about the area, be they true or myth, will entice the new visitor to come to the area to explore as they see fit–not as we would say they should.
The crunch is getting the money to do effective marketing and that’s where a group such as Regional Tourism Ontario 7 (RTO7) comes in.
RTO7 is made up of Bruce, Grey and Simcoe counties.
LeBlanc says let them provide the money but it’s up to each individual county to entice the tourist through stories and what it’s like to be in the area.
LeBlanc made reference to the re-building in Goderich after the summer tornado that ripped through the municipality.
Coming from New Orleans, LeBlanc says they know a thing or two about weather-related disasters.
But she says it still comes down to people.
Government and insurance programs don’t put the energy into re-building, it’s the “social capital” of people working together to make the new town a better place to live and a great place to visit.
The one-day tourism conference is being put on by the Regional Tourism Marketing Partners of Grey Bruce.
Bayshore Broadcasting is a proud sponsor of the event.
