By Cecilia Nasmith
All eyes are certainly on the post-COVID world when it comes to tourism, but Northumberland County Tourism Manager Eileen Lum provided a report on what has been happening in the past year at county council's Economic Development, Tourism and Planning Standing Committee meeting for June.
The county has 650 tourism-related businesses that showcase the great outdoors, offering water-based activities, providing wellness and retreat services, and showcasing cultures, towns and rural landscapes. Counting only visitors from Canada, they support the local economy to the tune of $120-million annually.
Hit with the pandemic, they focused a lot of hard work and creative thinking on highly successful Tourism Recovery Campaigns between July and December to support these businesses and ensure their survival.
“Rather than targeting our traditional Ontario and US audience, because travel was prohibited, we would target hyper-local audience – residents of Northumberland County and surrounding areas,” Lum said.
Just Down The Road was the summer campaign, followed by a fall Wellness Campaign and a winter Shop Local.
They also made adjustments to their website to make it completely accessible and printer-friendly.
“We were very fortunate to secure $229,000 that helped with some digital-transformation initiatives as well as supporting marketing initiatives,” she said.
“We also partnered with the Culinary Tourism Alliance on The Great Taste of Ontario Road Trip to help local restaurants and food producers and those involved with food tourism.
“We are looking for new partnerships all the time,” Lum added.
“There are many ways we can actually help our tourism economy.”
Examples include helping tourism industry stakeholders meet the pandemic challenges, working with regional partners to promote get-aways, experiences and themed adventures, engaging in tourism-industry crisis planning and participating win the Northumberland Economic Recovery Task Force.
