“It’s the economic impact, stupid.”
We do a pretty poor job highlighting the economic impact and the role a healthy tourism industry plays for everyone. In our region, a recent study highlighted that it’s not the hotels, restaurants and attractions that get the biggest bang from enhanced tourism visitation (though this is who everyone thinks should be paying for it!)
Indeed the biggest economic benefets from increased tourism in our region are felt by:
- banks
- real estate agents (and lawyers)
- gas stations
We need to open the door to inviting more community partners to help promote regional tourism development. And we have to do a better job of informing government of the economic benefits of tourism. In the US, Washington State has done a great job of that with a Web site directed to the cause: http://www.whytourismmatters.com/
We need such a site for each provincial DMO in Canada, to ensure Tourism isn’t looked at as a second tier concern come budget time. Just because we’ve been continually underfunded is no reason that it should continue to be so.
