As it prepares to assume responsibility for economic development and tourism from Peterborough & The Kawarthas Economic Development at the end of the year, Peterborough County wants to hear from local tourism operators and business owners to help shape the future of tourism in the Kawarthas.
Held in partnership with Peterborough and Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce, “Tourism Talks” is series of six free roundtable events held in communities across the region that invite those who operate in the sector to share the challenges, trends, and opportunities they are seeing.
“We want to ensure that tourism businesses have an opportunity to share with us personally what challenges they’re currently facing,” says Tracie Bertrand, general manager of tourism and communications at Peterborough County. “Our goal with bringing tourism in house to Peterborough County is to ensure that we’re shaping a bright future of tourism for the Kawarthas region.”
Led by Chamber vice-president Joel Wiebe, the hour-long roundtables will take place in Buckhorn (Monday, October 21, 1 p.m., Buckhorn Welcome Centre), Douro-Dummer (Monday, October 28, 1 p.m. Douro-Dummer Community Centre), Cavan Monaghan (Wednesday, October 30, 1 p.m. Township of Cavan Monaghan Council Chambers), Selwyn (Monday, November 4, 5:30 p.m., Marshland Centre), Asphodel-Norwood (Thursday, November 24, 1 p.m., Asphodel-Norwood Community Centre), and Curve Lake First Nation (Monday, December 9, 2 p.m., Andrew’s Building).
Business owners of Peterborough Country are invited to attend any of the sessions, including the one in Curve Lake, and can even attend multiple if they so desire. Chamber membership is not required to attend.
“The visitor economy is a critical component to our prosperity,” says Bertrand, noting that the county sees over three million visitors per year in the region, which adds an estimated $300 million to the local economy. “If the visitor economy makes up a great portion of that revenue, it’s important for everyone to understand who the visitor is, when visitors are coming, and the trends operators are seeing.”
While the Tourism Talks series will certainly be of interest to businesses directly providing tourism services, the county is inviting all businesses that service the visitor economy, including those in retail, food and beverage, or arts and culture.
“You might want to come because you see an influx of visitors throughout the summer season, and you rely on the visitor economy for the majority of your revenue,” she says. “It’s interesting when you bring various sub-sectors of the tourism sector to share what they see, and sometimes it generates great opportunities.”
She explains that these business owners might have access to insight that would help businesses of other sub-sectors. Accommodation owners, for example, might know that visitors are seeking more outdoor adventure experiences or want shops to be open later, and, with that knowledge, outdoor experience operators and retailers can make adjustments to their services.
“It’s really a great opportunity to share amongst everybody, because it’s not just the county that’s going to benefit from this type of sharing,” Bertrand says. “The operators themselves will benefit from the Tourism Talks, and typically we see the generation of ideas and we see partnerships grow from these types of opportunities.”
The roundtables are an opportunity for business owners to not only connect and learn from those operating in different sub-sectors, but also to connect with those in their own to see if they are facing similar issues, seeing the same trends, or have solutions.
“Our businesses in the region do a wonderful job of promoting each other and really helping each other,” Bertrand says. “Maybe a business owner wants to come and they’re not necessarily experiencing extreme challenges or have opportunities that they want to share, but if they’re listening to the other operators, it might give them an opportunity to learn some things and engage with a fellow operator as well.”
Following the series, Peterborough County will take all the gathered information and use it when making a strategy for next year.
“The more we’re aware of the challenges, the easier it is for us to help with solutions,” says Bertrand. “As we’re planning a strategy for 2025, it would be really interesting to incorporate some of the opportunities that we’re hearing about.”
The information would also help the county in conversation with the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO).
“The more we know about what businesses are facing or wanting to see, the better work we can do from an advocacy standpoint,” Bertrand says. “The Chamber is a wonderful advocacy arm for not just tourism businesses, but all businesses. When it comes to challenges that businesses face, they can take some of this information and they can bubble it up and advocate on behalf of businesses in Peterborough.”
Although not required to attend a Tourism Talks session, advance registration is encouraged at www.ptbocounty.ca/en/exploring/tourism-roundtables.aspx.
