Tourism expected to spur economic growth: Initiatives, like the GPS Discovery Tour, are helping to turn Iroquois Falls into destination point. (Iroquois Falls).

"Iroquois Falls needs to create a destination point," says Norm McDowell, chair of a volunteer subcommittee charged with the task of giving tourists a reason to stop and spend money.

"Inviting people in for a coffee won't do it," he says.

The community feels it has found an attraction at Meadow Creek, a six-kilometre-long creek that flows into the Abitibi River on the south side of the town. The subcommittee wants to build an interpretive centre there, and is now looking for private investors so that the project will qualify for provincial funding, McDowell says.

"Tourism development is our best chance of creating jobs," he says.

A vision has been established for the centre - "We provide the playground, you remember the experience." The Meadow Creek Centre will be designed to complement the region's attractions and experiences and serve as a starting point for established tours, including the pulp and paper tour and the cogeneration plant tour that are both offered by the Iroquois Falls Chamber of Commerce.

The centre will be built on a 12-acre site and will be within walking distance of the town's major hotel and downtown businesses, and within minutes of trails accessing the entire northeast. The development will be based on the forestry and the paper industry.

The main facility at Meadow Creek will have a theme from the town's early 1900s heritage and will operate year round.

Volunteers and the town's tourism operators are working to establish day- and weeklong tour packages with neighbouring municipalities. Area attractions include the Polar Bear Express in Cochrane and the Shania Twain Centre in Timmins.

They are also establishing school tours and hope to attract students to the North, just as students from the North are taken south for educational experiences.

Another tourism project that has gained a lot interest is the GPS Discovery Tour that will be launched in May, McDowell says.

The GPS tour involves the rental of a programmed global positioning system unit by visitors. The hand-held device contains a program with 100 points of interest and electronically guides the visitor along a four-hour driving tour.

McDowell says there are enough GPS units to accommodate 25 tours per day.

The rental fee includes a full-colour map depicting historical sites and ecotourism sites. It also includes the locations of possible animal sightings, beaver dams, nature trails and tree plantations. Signing a rental agreement and providing a credit card imprint is all that is required to obtain a unit.

The GPS unit can be picked up or dropped off at either the Iroquois Falls tourist centre located on the TransCanada Highway or at Cochrane's information centre located on 3rd Avenue.

Funding partners for the GPS Discovery Tour are the North Claybelt Community Futures Development Corp. and the Lake Abitibi Model Forest.