An agreement being worked on between the Ontario Federation of ATVers and the Eastern Ontario Trails Alliance will be good for tourism.
That’s what both Councillor Wayne Wiggins, who is Bancroft’s representative on the EOTA committee, and Cindy Cassidy, the General Manager of the Eastern Ontario Trails Alliance, are saying. Cassidy says, “we’re building and making partnerships to create a strategic business plan to create a one pass operation.” Wiggins adds, “one pass will make it much much easier for people to travel across the province.”
Wiggins says that a one pass system will be great for tourism. “This will allow more people to come, (make it) easier to come,” he says. Cassidy adds that tourism is a big focus with this new system and that they want to help increase it. She says the EOTA have been working with ATV World to make videos that will be shared across North America at ATV shows, including the Toronto International Snowmobile, ATV & Powersports Show.
Wiggins says the one part of the system that needs to be worked on is financing. Currently, Bancroft does not get any money from the purchase of ATV passes. The money comes in indirectly from the increase in tourism. Wiggins adds that the sticking point between has been how the money will flow back and forth.
Wiggins added even with the possible extra tourism and ATVs around town, increasing safety measures isn’t a concern. “The biggest thing is common sense,” he says. He added, “the rules are there, but definitely we want people to be safe.”
A meeting will be held next week where the details of the plan will be further hammered out.