Greater Sudbury Northern Life Reporter Bill Bradley
Greater Sudbury is embarking on a bold plan to strengthen itself as a top tourism destination, said speakers at a tourism forum Thursday.
“Greater Sudbury will be one of Ontario's top four visitor destinations,” said Carla LaCelle, general manager of Travelodge Hotel.
She spoke on behalf of Sudbury Tourism, a partnership made up of businesses, groups and the municipality, charged with promoting the local tourism industry.
The rationale for that bold claim is the following:
-Science North and Dynamic Earth are attracting large numbers of people from southern Ontario.
-the city has become a regional capital for shopping, arts and entertainment, government services, business meetings and conventions.
-the plethora of festivals, one every weekend in the summer, such as Northern Lights Festival Boreal, Summerfest, Dragonboat, Ribfest, Garlic Festival plus Cinefest in September add up to a major draw for visitors over many months.
-city is a centre for Franco-Ontario heritage and culture, with the third largest population of francophones outside of Quebec and many prestigious organizations.
-large number of visiting friends and family.
-enviable geographic position with two major highways and railways, easily accessible for traveling sports teams, important, as sports tourism is the fastest growth tourism sector in Canada.
-world wide reputation for re-greening, as well as an outdoor cluster of businesses and groups plus a growing new host of green buildings and processes such as the landfill gas plant.
“It is a bold vision to be number four in the province based on length of stay, absolute numbers and money they spend,” said LaCelle. “But Science North had many skeptics in the beginning. They proved them wrong,” she said.
Rob Skelly, manager of tourism, culture and marketing for Greater Sudbury, said the tourism drive really got going during the nickel crisis of the late 1970s. Both then Inco and Falconbridge laid off thousands of workers when nickel prices dived.
“The then Sudbury Regional Development Corporation identified tourism as an opportunity to diversify the economy. That lead to the spectacular development of Science North,” said Skelly.
“Then in 2003 the new Greater Sudbury Development Corporation selected tourism as one of five economic drivers for the community in their Coming of Age in the 21st Century report,” he added.
The next year, the city began to market itself as a premier destination for tourism, Over 50 recommendations came out of stakeholder meetings including the performing arts centre, the sports complex and a convention centre, said Skelly.
By 2007 the city's Sudbury Tourism Visitor's Guide had topped all others in Ontario, winning a provincial award for excellence.
Chloe Gordon, co-chair of Sudbury Tourism and executive manager, office of the CEO, Science North outlined the next steps forward:
-decisions based on up-to-date research,
-focusing on our competitive advantages as our marketing brand.
-targeting the best bets for tourists for the best return on money invested such as the GTA.
-co-ordinating marketing with senior levels of government.
-levering the internet for sophisticated consumers.
-building new partnerships such as between Sudbury Tourism and the Georgian Bay Coastal Route partnerships.
-better packaging of tourism experiences for the consumer.
As an example of innovative marketing, Gordon outlined a test project to tap into the growing number of Chinese immigrants in the Toronto area.
“There are an estimated 500,000 ethnic Chinese now in Toronto. We invited up a group from a Chinese newspaper and a television service. Then we placed an ad in Chinese text with pictures in the newspaper. We saw an increase in web hits from this group,” said Gordon.
Rob Skelly concluded his remarks by saying Sudbury Tourism needed a stronger voice in the community.
Some members of the audience thought that local politicians were unaware of all the efforts underway in developing tourism as a major economic force.
Doug Reynolds, a member of the Onaping Falls Snowmobile Club said what needs to happen is that local politicians get involved in the tourism efforts.
“I just don't think they get it with respect to tourism,” he said.
For more information on Sudbury Tourism, visit the organization's website.
