Good Day,
Last month, staff built out the 2026-2027 Business Plan based on direction and insights from the Board of Directors, and informed by municipal priorities, stakeholder feedback and industry trends. We presented the draft plan to the board in early November and are currently in the process of making refinements and developing a budget to meet the lofty goals and objectives. Delivering what you expect from us – and what we expect from ourselves – is expensive. And, unfortunately, the province of Ontario has not increased its allocation to regional tourism since the program’s inception in 2010.
We continue to pursue new revenue streams like AVTR1 (officially launched and ready for you to add augmented reality to you organization) and corporate sponsorships of our consumer and stakeholder facing assets so that we can continue to deliver our core free services without having to layer in a cost-recovery model. The Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO), tourism sector associations, RTO’s and DMO’s are constantly demonstrating to the province that money spent to attract and retain visitors is an investment, not an expense. January to July 2025 overnight visits to Central Counties netted over $300M in direct tax revenues. Of course, there are tens of thousands of employees working for the hotels, restaurants and attractions who also pay income tax, property tax and spend their incomes on food and entertainment in their communities – all of which are taxed with money going back to the government so they can fund important programs like education, health, transportation, etc., that do not have the ability to provide the government with a positive financial ROI.
The visitor economy is huge and keeps our communities vibrant. The issue is the revenues are spread out among tens of thousands of businesses and the powers that be have difficulty wrapping their heads around the depth and breadth of the industry. And as much as I believe we have collectively ensured the importance of the visitor economy is on government radars, it is still thought of as a “nice to have” or, worse yet, described as “the Ministry of Fun”. Billions of dollars of tax revenue IS fun for the province, but I don’t think that is what they mean when they call us that.
I am very impressed with our municipal leaders, who are recognizing the importance of visitors on the health of their communities. Most of our municipalities have incorporated visitor growth plans/strategies into their master plans and are actively working at building capacity (through infrastructure, investment attraction and red tape reduction) to attract and retain more visitors, who will leave money in the tills of businesses their residents love and rely on for their way of life. But they too require support from the province and experts like TIAO and Central Counties to help deliver the action items of the plan.
What we need is for the businesses and organizations that support their communities, yet rely on visitors to help make ends meet, to be the ones to advocate for increased and ongoing provincial support for the growth of this amazing industry. All too often, my words fall on deaf ears. And not because what I am saying isn’t important or relevant, but because those that are listening may not be hearing the same message from those that vote them into power. However, for you to reach out to your MPP and ask them what their plan is to support the ever-growing visitor economy in their constituency and beyond, puts tourism higher up the priority list. You as business owners, festival organizers, and residents have more clout than you may imagine. As the prepare for the 2026-2027 budget, it would be great to plant the seed for the need for continued investment.
Okay, I am stepping off my soap box. Working on budgets always seems to put me in a feisty mood. There is never enough money to go around and so many projects we want to accomplish.
So, I am going to switch gears and tell you about some great opportunities to support your own organization while also supporting the work that we do:
2026 Tourism Symposium
Our event is being held on Monday, March 2 in Whitby. While tickets are not yet for sale, I think you should put a “hold the date” in your calendars and plan on attending. It really is a fantastic opportunity to meet your peers and take home some actionable learnings to help grow your business. We also need symposium sponsors to help us offset the cost of the event to make the price accessible to all of our stakeholders. Click here to learn more about the opportunities and reach out to me directly if you have questions or would like to participate.
Municipal Overnight Visitation Data
Attention municipalities. Tom has launched the municipal overnight visitation data analysis program and you need to get it. As an introductory offer, he can provide you monthly overnight visitation data at the annual data report rate. That is a $750 savings per year of data you would like. This offer extends to 2022 data right up to 2025 data. You can get each year of data, broken down by month, for only $1,995 per year of data. This is a great opportunity to benchmark your visitor growth and we wanted to make acquiring the back data a little more affordable. Once again, reach out to me directly with any questions.
AVTR1
It is ready for you to implement at your location. There are so many ways this technology can be integrated to create awesome, fun experiences for your guests. Give me a call to discuss and we will figure out ways to make it work for you!
These three things, along with the other cost-recovery programs we offer, have been designed with you in mind. And while I may sound like a smarmy salesman peddling his wares, I know in my heart that investment in any of them will assist you and the organization you represent. It also helps Central Counties to provide even more free services you have all come to rely on to grow your success. Our hope is to always be here for you and we are working hard to become self-sufficient. I believe that this is the right team, the right board, at the right time, to focus on that goal and I am looking forward to growing our capacity to support you more.
Have a great day!
Chuck
