That’s according to Mary Kavanaugh, who runs the North Hastings Heritage Museum.
The museum doubles as the tourist information centre in Bancroft.
In a passionate presentation to council last week, Kavanaugh noted that both the county and federal government have recently highlighted the importance of tourism growth, using language from the Hastings County 2024-26 strategic plan:
“To support the growth of local municipalities, business and tourism, to support employment opportunities throughout Hastings County, support individuals in reaching financial stability.”
Added Kavanaugh: “That’s your economic development plan. Every business that opens as a result of increased tourism is going to provide employment. It’s going to provide stability. It’s going to provide financial support to the municipalities north of seven. It’s going to provide the initiative for people to come and visit us and say, ‘oh, wow, I’d like to live here’ and they buy a house….and our CEO has just indicated that those numbers are up.”
Kavanaugh went on to emphasize the need to recognize that economic development in our area is “absolutely dependent on tourism”, suggesting tourism is underfunded.
“With [some] support of the municipalities, we’re running our tourism centre on donations to our heritage museum. That’s absurd.”
Kavanaugh explained that up until 2017, the county supported a Destination Management Organization (DMO), responsible for overseeing and coordinating tourism initiatives in a specific area.
“The county used to support the DMO in the North with about $30,000 a year…in 2018 that funding stopped in the north and they created a new strategy…what that means is for the last seven years we’ve lost $210,000, which would have been directly put into tourism in the north.”
Kavanaugh says she has presented to all surrounding municipalities (except Faraday who had not yet held a council meeting in January) asking for a letter of support ahead of her presentation to Hastings County council this week.
After her presentation the Town of Bancroft voted in favour of providing Kavanaugh a letter of support.
During her presentation Kavanaugh thanked the Town of Bancroft for their support and acknowledged the support of the Bancroft Business Improvement Area (BBIA).
Kavanaugh presented at a Hastings County Council meeting on Wednesday.
You can find Kavanaugh’s presentation here. https://youtu.be/6cfzEVpGDXs?t=2379
