Tourism strategy taking shape

 

A snapshot of tourists in South Dundas: Generally, they tend to be adults, they come from within a 100 kilometer radius, are either here on a day trip or here visiting family and friends. While here, they want to enjoy the outdoors, cycle along the waterfront trail, visit Upper Canada Village, or maybe see the ships passing through the Iroquois Locks. While enjoying these activities they want to enjoy a fairly unplanned but truly authentic experience.

Having done all the research to create this snapshot of tourists in South Dundas, a project team of 10 people recruited from stakeholders in the local tourism industry, with South Dundas economic development officer Nicole Sullivan, have come up with at strategy which identifies what they believe the priority areas should be to successfully grow South Dundas’ tourism sector. 

“This is our stab at it,” says Sullivan. “What we need now is for the community to come and check out our strategy to help us determine if our priorities match the community’s.”

The team believes that the historical sector should be a top priority, followed by the arts and culture sector, the cycling sector, motorcycling sector and the fishing and boating sector.

“The historical sector is fascinating, as it can be used to enhance everything else, by adding to the visitor’s experience,” said Sullivan, who sees the historical sector as a natural top priority for South Dundas.

Using this list of priorities, the team is working on a draft Tourism Sector Development Action Plan and are wanting community input to ensure that they are working in a direction that suits the community’s needs.

Sullivan, along with members of the project team, will be hosting an event, called Our Passport to the Future: A Tourism Stakeholder Discussion Forum, November 29, from 5-8 p.m. at the McIntosh Inn, Morrisburg. 

“This is not your traditional type of public meeting,” said Sullivan explaining that it’s more of an open house forum whereby people are welcome to drop in at their convenience to see the plans and provide their feedback. 

The meeting will be set up in four stations with a facilitator at each station to listen and discuss with those attending.

“I really want it to be a relaxed atmosphere that will allow for discussions,” said Sullivan. “What we really need is feedback and comments about the priorities and a general feeling about whether our perspective matches that of the community.”

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