Political parties not ignoring tourism, say candidates
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Tourism may not be as prominent an issue in this provincial election as it was in 2007.
But candidates representing the three major parties looking to form government after Oct. 6 are adamant they’re not overlooking an industry they say is so vital to Niagara’s economy.
During the provincial election four years ago, tourism had its own section in the Liberal, Progressive Conservative and New Democratic platforms.
For example, then PC leader John Tory promised more money for marketing.
Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty pledged a “comprehensive competitiveness study,” which led to a $4-million report, which in turn led to the creation of regional tourism organizations tasked to make Ontario’s tourism industry more competitive with other destinations around the world.
While there were specific promises for tourism in 2007, this time around, there are few.
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Perfect tourism model comes with a price
From the Western Star:
Sometimes, you hear complaints about the lack of professionalism in this province’s tourism industry — about the way that standards, quality and the skills and training of tourism staff vary wildly, depending on which establishment you go to.
Three different bed and breakfasts will have three different levels of service and three different prices — and the ones that offer the best experience aren’t necessarily the ones with the best price, either.
It’s something that makes operators pull their hair out — they hear about the mistakes and miscues of others from their own patrons, and wonder just how the industry can guarantee a basic level of quality. It’s an organic thing, really; operators who figure out the right standards will stay in business in the long run, while eventually the under-equipped and the unprepared will fall by the wayside.
In the process, there’s always the fear that a critical number of tourists will visit once, have a bad experience and never come back again — and worse, that they’ll tell their friends and neighbours, who will then not even show up for that first visit.
Now, there are places that elevate tourism to a near art — try Niagara Falls on for size — where every single employee is drilled to wish you a good morning, even if you make eye contact for only a fraction of a second, even if you’re merely passing their establishment and not coming in.
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Best Road Trip..The Niagara Parkway
From Nile Guide (including pictures):
When I think of Niagara Falls and its tourism industry I automatically think of two words; road trip. It really is the perfect spot to venture to for a quick weekend getaway from reality, as it is just a hop, skip and jump over to the United States border and an hour drive from the great city of Toronto. Thus is it safe to assume that those who venture to Niagara Falls are looking for a way to get the kids out and running around after the four hour drive from your home town (or twenty minute drive from down the road).
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Tourism sector takes stock at season start
From the Niagara Falls Review:
With new tourism-related services, and the potential for more in the coming years, officials see a bright future for the No. 1 industry in Niagara Falls.
As the traditional tourism season gets underway in the city, many of those involved in the sector are looking forward to seeing if, or how, the new convention centre will help an industry that has suffered some lean years recently.
But with the food and wine expo at the convention centre this weekend, an extension to GO rail service, with discussions continuing on a people-mover system and with the potential for a new 7,000-seat entertainment centre bringing A-list stars to the city in a few years, the long-term prospects look good, they say.
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EDITORIAL — Reducing passport prices would aid tourism industry
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Ontario’s tourism industry, particularly in Niagara, has been in one long struggle for the better part of the last decade.
Ever since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, border security in the United States has been an ongoing concern; a byproduct of that has been fewer American visitors heading north.
That scenario was magnified last year when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security implemented its Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, making a passport a necessity if you plan on crossing the border — or more to the point, if you want to enter the United States.
That means any American without a passport can get out of their homeland, but they can’t get back in.
And because fewer than one in three Americans owns a passport, that has manifested in plummeting tourism numbers.
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Reconsider trolleys, former city worker urges
From the Niagara Falls Review:
Niagara Falls should put the brakes on the purchase of buses for shuttling tourists around town and reconsider an electric trolley system before plans for the new people mover system leave the station, says former city employee Derek Costello.
But council members say their current people mover plan is affordable, will serve a wider area and is what the tourism industry wants now.
Electric trolleys are better for the environment than buses that burn fossil fuels. Their long-term maintenance costs are lower than buses with tires and moving parts have to be replaced more frequently than steel wheels or electric motors, Costello said.
“There’s such a strong movement (toward trolleys). It makes you think why, why, why buses?” Costello, a retired engineering technician, said. “A mistake is made forever. To amend a decision now is more prudent.”
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More US visitors in Niagara Falls, Ontario?
Yesterday I linked to a Niagara Falls Review article where there seemed to be some optimism for the summer business. I wanted to add my 2¢…
Last year when June came around, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) came into effect, and all travelers going across the border needed a passport or some other type of secure document. It hit the city hard.
The first thing I noticed last year was that there seemed to be very few students around. Each year previously, you’d see huge groups of kids visiting on school trips. I don’t know for sure where they came from in previous years, but they weren’t anywhere last year. I assume that the US schools didn’t bother with the trip. Now, a year later, there have been lots of kids again. I’m not sure if it is back where it was, but it’s more than last year for sure. I’m sure there are a lot of Canadian schools, but there were t-shirts around from US schools as well. Part of the reason will be that many more people have passports. Another will be that it turns out that school groups where kids are under 18 don’t need passports.
I tweeted last July that Quebec license plates were everywhere. On the other hand, there were very few US license plates to be seen. Anecdotally, there are a lot more licenses plates from US states this year. I mean A LOT more. It isn’t back to the pre-9-11 days, but it is way higher than last year.
I know that the tourism industry is a lot more complicated than this, but based on these two simple observations, business should be better this year. Let’s hope so!
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Clinics needed to beat border confusion
From the Niagara Falls Review:
There’s still so much confusion about what travel documents are required for entering the United States from Canada, government agencies on both sides of the border should sponsor “clinics” to help people decide which type of identification meets their needs and even to help fill out application forms, the head of a tourism lobby group says.
“People are still confused. They want to know what they need. We think there’s a way to do that with community partners,” said Arlene White, director of the Binational Tourism Alliance, a lobby group focusing on issues that affect the tourism industry in Niagara and western New York.
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Tourism Minister stops in Niagara for first official visit
From Niagara This Week:
Ontario’s Minister of Tourism and Culture has finally made his first official visit to Niagara.
Michael Chan was named tourism minister in January of this year and recently came under fire from the opposition party for not visiting Niagara Falls — one of Ontario’s largest tourism destinations.
Last month, Tim Hudak, Opposition leader and MPP for Niagara West-Glanbrook, visited Niagara Falls and asked why Chan had yet to do the same after more than 100 days in office.
On Wednesday, that all changed when Chan spent the day visiting sites around Niagara and meeting with important leaders in the tourism industry.
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Fardell quits Niagara Falls Tourism
From the Niagara Falls Review:
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