Counties provides more funding to tourism centres this year

The tourism season in Prescott-Russell will start much earlier this year thanks to an infusion of funds from the United Counties of Prescott-Russell into a number of local tourism information centres.

As part of the 2011 budget, regional mayors voted in favour of providing $115,000 to the centres this year, compared to the $37,500 it spent in 2010.

As a result of the increase, tourism information centres in Hawkesbury, Limoges and Casselman will each receive $20,000, while Vankleek Hill will receive $10,000.

Last year, Hawkesbury received $17,500, Casselman and Limoges each received $5,000 and Vankleek Hill received $2,500.

According to Sylvain Charlebois, director of economic development and tourism for the UCPR, this year will be a busy tourism season in the region and the additional money will certainly come in handy.

"All centres will be able to open earlier this year," he told The Review. "Staff training (of 70 hours) will also be done earlier. Traditionally, centres open the weekend before Canada Day, at the earliest. With the opening of Calypso on June 1 and the International Plowing Match (IPM) in September, the counties felt it was justified to attribute more resources to the centres this year."

The decision came on the heels of a report on the coordination of the tourism information centres in Prescott-Russell, which was presented by the Prescott and Russell Economic Development Tourism Office in January.

The report contained two major recommendations, including an increase in funding for the centres and ensuring the centres are aware of the funding early so they can begin planning for the tourism season.

According to statistics presented by the united counties, tourism information centres across the region, along with the UCPR's tourism website, received quite a bit more traffic last summer.

In Hawkesbury, 2,918 people visited the centre, compared with 2,351 in 2009. In Casselman, 1,834 visited, compared with only 710 in 2009. The Vankleek Hill centre received a total of 844 visitors in 2010, almost double the 481 it received in 2009.

The newest centre, which was opened in Limoges to celebrate the grand opening of Calypso in June 2010, saw 4,199 visitors this summer.

"These numbers represent people who presented themselves at the counter," Charlebois explained. "They don't include the total number of visitors who stopped in. We can see from these numbers that there was an increase in requests for tourism information in Prescott-Russell this year."

Statistics assembled by Google Analytics show that the counties tourism website, particularly the welcome page, also saw a jump in visits. The numbers indicate that from January 1 to August 15, the welcome page on the counties' tourism website received 7,133 views, compared with 5,324 views last year. The events page was visited 3,853 times during the same period, compared to 1,418 times in 2009.