The staff and board of directors of Ontario’s Highlands Tourism Organization gathered at the Bancroft Brew Pub Wednesday for a mix and mingle.
Executive director Nicole Whiting said they are the second largest regional tourism organization in the province, spanning across Hastings, Renfrew, Haliburton, Lennox and Addington, Frontenac and Lanark counties.
They invited local business owners to join them at the social to share ideas and discuss opportunities.
Tweed and Company Theatre artistic and co-executive director Tim Porter recently joined the board of directors and said he’s excited for the upcoming season at the theatre.
He said over half of Tweed and Company’s audience this past season was tourism-based.
Porter said the theatre company has been engaged with OHTO for many years and has taken advantage of some of the funding programs they offer, including funding for their sound system which earned them a reputation for high sound quality.
“Obviously, our municipalities can’t be spending time and resources to go across Ontario and all over to pull people to the region, so OHTO as that umbrella organization that’s drawing people to the community is essential,” he said.
Porter added that OHTO is looking towards establishing a member portal for people to register their business and become searchable through a database for people visiting the area.
He said both Tweed and Company and OHTO have been involved in lobbying for additional tourism and economic development funding to continue growing the region’s draw.
Whiting said the tourism sector is facing challenges similar to many other sectors of the economy, including labour challenges and funding for capital improvements.
“We’re also seeing that climate change is a big one, so extreme weather events. We have a really strong summer market, but the last few years we’ve had interruptions to visitation because of wildfires and excessive heat. Our winter season is shortening as well,” she said.
She said they are working within the industry to help mitigate some of these effects, and the region has a lot of opportunity as well, centred around cultural and nature-based experiences.
She said OHTO tries to approach tourism development as a part of overall community development.
“What we say here at OHTO is ‘tourism is community and community is tourism,'” Whiting said.
“A lot of the things you focus on in terms of attracting visitors also enhances the quality of life for residents, because visitors have the same expectations as what a resident may expect in terms of infrastructure.”
