Grassroots organization to market Parry Sound area.

Returning to their tourism roots is the goal behind a new initiative to form a Parry Sound district marketing organization to better promote the Georgian Bay communities as the gateway to Northern Ontario.

The area, made famous in Canadian folklore for its distinctive windswept trees, Georgian Bay-style cottages and the boating paradise of its 30,000 island chain, has been without a dedicated tourism manager since government funding for the contract position dried up a year-and-a-half ago.

It has left promotion in the hands 6f individual chambers of commerce, resort and hotel operators up and down the coast to do their own thing.

Now a proposal spearheaded by the Parry Sound Area Community Business and Development Centre aims to market the region by pooling together a coalition of municipalities into a market share program known as the East Georgian Bay Sustainable Tourism Council.

Though tourism marketing is not the development agency's mandate, general manager Bill Spinney says his organization can't turn itss back when 50 per cent of employment in the Parry Sound area is directly or indirectly generated by tourism and the service sector.

"The concept is to build an organization that we will host for one or two years until it's incorporated and flies on its own wings," says Spinney. "But the municipalities have to recognize that tourism marketing is in their best interests too."

During the summer; the population of the town regularly swells from it's 6,000 year-round residents to more than 35,000; with very little in the way of a co-ordinated marketing plan.

And it is not known how many tourists visit the area each year to take in the island cruises, tour museums and camp at nearby provincial parks.

Spinney says the Town of Parry Sound and some neighbouring municipalities support the tourism council idea in principle but no financial commitment is yet forthcoming.

A proposal for $100,000 in startup money over two years has been submitted to FedNor to hire a tourism staff member, plus some upfront capital to build a computer program. A tourism board of directors largely made up of tourism operators and benefactors with some political representation would provide direction.

Another related initiative under consideration is a Travel North Centre on Highway 69. A proposal has been put forward by an undisclosed private entrepreneur with intentions on upgrading an existing Ontario tourism information centre on Highway 69 into a full service centre offering food and some retail.

Spinney says Parry Sound has evolved into a glorified highway rest stop for motorists on their annual pilgrimages north. A northern 'gateway' centre might encourage a few to stop and linger in town. Already 35,000 vehicles stop at the current tourist centre annually.

The private developer is prepared to invest between $4.5 and $5 million in the centre, which would be built in the area of a new highway interchange scheduled for completion in the fall of 2003.

Spinney envisions a centre offering both a manned kiosk and interactive displays featuring video clips of popular attractions.