Prescott-Russell may get lost in new tourism region

The province of Ontario's plan to form tourism regions to change the face and future of tourism is not sitting well with the United Counties of Prescott-Russell.

In early 2009, the provincial government commissioned a study called the Ontario Tourism Competitiveness Study, which resulted in a draft report entitled Discovering Ontario: A Report on the Future of Tourism.

Greg Sorbara, MPP for Vaughn and former minister of finance, was appointed chair of the study committee, which was charged with the task of looking at ways to increase Ontario's share of the multi-billion dollar global tourism market.

"The goal is that Ontario will become one of the world's preferred places to visit," Sorbara said. "Ontario has the potential and all the necessary elements to be a leading tourism destination. To get there, we will aim to double tourism receipts by 2010."

The study makes a series of 20 recommendations, one of which is the formation of 13 tourism regions. Within those regions, regional tourism organizations (RTOs) would be formed to work with strengthened Destination Marketing and Management Organizations (DMMOs).

Under the newly defined tourism regions, the UCPR is being lumped together with the City of Ottawa, something that concerns Sylvain Charlebois, economic development and tourism co-ordinator for the counties.

"We are very concerned about this," he said. "Yes, we have a large geographic area, but we are made up of small municipalities, many of them rural. To lump us together with a major urban centre just doesn't make much sense. I am afraid we're going to get lost and that it will be hard to highlight everything our area has to offer when we are competing against the Nation's Capital."

Similarly, the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry are sharing a tourism region with Frontenac County, Hastings County, Lennox and Addington and Prince Edward County. It will share the spotlight with cities including Brockville, Belleville, Kingston and Trenton.

"It just doesn't make sense," Charlebois remarked. "I really don't see how this is going to benefit any of us. It's going to be a huge challenge and hopefully, we can pull it off."

The study notes that tourism is "one of the pillars of the Ontario economy" and contributed to more Gross Domestic Product (GDP) than the entire primary sector, including forestry and mining.

In 2007, Ontario's tourism receipts totalled $22.1 billion and the sector contributed to 3.4 per cent of the province's GDP and generated $6.3 billion in direct tax revenue for the three levels of government. Tourism employment in Ontario peaked at close to 200,000 in 2007, before falling slightly in 2008, and continues to support 100,000 more workers who relied on tourism for their livelihood.

Ontario's tourism ministry estimated that every $1 million spent by visitors in Ontario creates around 14 jobs and generates $553,400 in wages and salaries in the province.

The province recently put out a request for expressions of interest to organizations or groups of organizations interested in becoming an RTO.

The province is calling this "the first step in the process to help each region identify an RTO."

The request for expressions of interest closed on March 1. All completed submissions will be reviewed and the ministry of tourism.