The town of Smiths Falls wants more tourists to visit, but with the help of a new destination development plan, the heritage community is also asking how it can encourage tourists to stay. <\/p>\n
The town of Smiths Falls wants more tourists to visit, but with the help of a new destination development plan, the heritage community is also asking how it can encourage tourists to stay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the idea that every visitor is potentially an investor, a business owner, a retiree, a new homeowner, a worker,\u201d Ingrid Bron, manager of economic development for the town, told OBJ.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf people are coming here anyway, how can we get them to stay here longer? How can we get them to extend their stay, have a longer experience and, ultimately, convert those visits into potentially thinking about how they could themselves open a business here, or more here, or retire here as part of a lifestyle choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Bron, it\u2019s only in the last decade that the town has started prioritizing tourism, focusing on its heritage attractions and events.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The change was spurred by the arrival of Canopy Growth, which took over the former Hershey\u2019s chocolate factory in 2014 and opened a visitor centre that brought an influx of outside traffic. Around the same time, Le Boat, a luxury houseboat company that operates along the Rideau Canal, came to town.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the most part, tourism wasn\u2019t really a separate function until fairly recently,\u201d said Bron. \u201cThey really put us on the map, as far as international tourism goes. Those two things compelled Smiths Falls to refocus efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the Canopy visitor centre now closed, the town is looking at other ways to target visitors and approach tourism as a key part of its overall economic development strategy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re still in a transition period,\u201d said Jeff Murphy, who has been spearheading those efforts as the town\u2019s tourism, arts and culture co-ordinator.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTen or 12 years ago, we were still very focused on industrialization and retail and classic economic development. But tourism is becoming a growing part of the economy and more and more important year on year \u2026 (This plan) is really bringing us into a more modern era of tourism and marketing, with a big focus on data tracking and understanding who is coming to this community. Why are they coming? And when are they coming?\u201d<\/p>\n
The destination plan was created by Hawn Consulting, which has worked on similar projects with other municipalities in Lanark County and other nearby areas, founder Jordan Hawn told OBJ.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Smiths Falls, it\u2019s about making sure you develop that narrative,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to make sure that people are aware that Smiths Falls has a lot to offer. That was a big piece, just looking at what brings people out, not just for a one-time day visit, but also what keeps people coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Included in the destination plan are strategies to improve the digital experience for tourists, collect and analyze visitor data, strengthen digital visibility, and build a long-term plan to connect tourism efforts to economic development.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From the canal and waterfronts to local businesses and historic sites, Hawn said the town has plenty of recreational assets to attract short-term visitors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But to keep visitors coming back, and to encourage them to live or work in the town, Hawn said more practical advantages also need to be included in a tourism marketing strategy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe there are career opportunities, or maybe I\u2019m a remote worker and I can come out here and do what I do,\u201d he said. \u201cThis might be a great place to buy a home or settle down. Housing is a big part of the conversation, with people trying to buy their first home and not being able to purchase in larger cities. Are there commercial opportunities? Is there a lot of infrastructure to build off of?\u201d<\/p>\n
To get the ball rolling, the plan will need to be approved by council, and will then be used to inform a new economic development plan with tourism as a key area of focus.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for the marketing strategy, Hawn said the first step will be to perform a full audit and set up the necessary infrastructure to keep a consistent digital presence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He added that, for small towns, consistency is one of the biggest challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYear one is about setting up templates, tools, structure to move forward, so that when you do further reach into different areas that you\u2019ve identified, then it\u2019s much easier,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to take into consideration the logistics and time and staff. They don\u2019t have a 20-person team. It\u2019s about making sure it\u2019s realistic. In the marketing world, you can give someone a great plan, but they might not have time to execute.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hawn, who\u2019s lived in Smiths Falls with his family for the past seven years, added that he\u2019s excited to see the community continue to evolve.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a great opportunity, and I\u2019m really grateful to be a part of it,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can see the passion and long-term vision. I\u2019m excited to see where things go from here and how things expand.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The town of Smiths Falls wants more tourists to visit, but with the help of a new destination…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-714217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}