Life is a Beach! Selling Sandbanks all Year Long

10 Years of Tourism Development in Prince Edward County

October 21, 2010

Prince Edward County – location

• 3 international airports within 4 hours

• Urban populations of 10.4 million 2 – 4 hours away

• 401 traffic• US border

Prince Edward County – facts

• 800 km of shoreline• Worlds largest freshwater bay-mouth sand

dune system (Sandbanks Provincial Park)• Important Birding Area (IBA)• Loyalist Parkway• Past canning industry, 700 acres of

grapes planted since 2000, 34 wineries open, 4th DVA in Ontario

• “Creative Rural Economy”

Taste the County

• Prince Edward County’s Destination Marketing Organization (DMO)

• 250 members, member based board of directors

• Non profit, 7% of funding comes from municipality, remainder from partner program participation

• Mandate - Increase number of visitors to PEC and increase the amount spend while here

Tourism/TTC Milestones

• 1999 - Funding received from OMAFRA for partner project - PEC Federation of Agriculture and Chamber of Commerce and Tourism

• 2002 - Taste the County incorporated• 2005 - Premier Ranked • 2006 - Tourism Strategy, Tourism Development

Alliance formed• 2008 - Prince Edward County DVA (Designated

Viticulture Area)

Tourism Challenges

• Seasonal • Large accommodation base - campgrounds,

B&B’s small inns with seasonal occupancy• Economic frontier, new business owners

driven by passion (wine, arts, restaurant, etc)• Very few resources• Changing community - old vs new

Accommodation Profile

PEC Kingston Belleville

Motels, Inns, B&B’s

650 2280 739

Cottages 1904

Campgrounds 1278

Residences 0 2675 250

Total 3832 4955 989

TTC Response to Challenges

Goal - collectively market and develop product available in the off- season

• Focus on tourism experiences rather that tourism commodities (trails vs beach)

• Combine agricultural heritage and interest in culinary tourism to attract high yield visitors

• Include arts and community of creative people• Create new partnerships• Remember that “the County” is the product, not any

individual business

Taste the County, what we do

• TASTE! a celebration of regional cuisine (2002)• Maple in the County (2002)• Countylicious (Spring and Fall)• Arts Trail (2008), Trail Trail (2004)• Visitors Guide • Harvestin’ Program (Map, Meet and Greet, buy local

branding) • International Media Program• Destination Marketing Campaigns (2005)• 11 websites, 10,000 unique visitors/month

TASTE! a celebration of regional cuisine• Celebration of harvest, and now, grape harvest• Restaurants, specialty food producers wineries from

eastern Ontario provide “tastes”, • Workshops and cooking demonstrations• In 2009, over 50 new wines released from the PEC

DVA• 2010 – multiday celebration Friday to Wednesday –

wine tours, cooking classes, grape harvest parties• Huge involvement from community – Slow Food,

Food Bank, Kiwanis, 4H, Air Cadets

Taste! a celebration of regional cuisine

2008 2009 2010Participating businesses (not food and beverage)

7 12 15

Food and Beverage Vendors

33 44 50

Paid Attendees 1,491 1,677 2,004

Sample Tickets remitted to vendors

$32,598 $41,190 $45,189

Survey respondents 120 208 250

Countylicious

• Restaurants offer set menus for $30 or $35

• Cost to business - $400 each season plus 4 X 2 gift certificates

• Experimented with cross promotion - arts and wine

• In 2008, increased from 2 weeks to 4 weeks, April and November

Countylicious

2009

Spring

2009

Fall

2010

SpringParticipating businesses

10 10 8

Patrons 1,877 4,42 3,490

Value of Sales $91,222 $216,642 $174,500

Maple in the County

• County wide open house celebrating the first harvest – maple syrup

• $150 for a business to be on the program, anyone with a “maple experience” can participate

• Pancake breakfasts held at sugarshacks

• Family or adult experience

Maple in the County

2008 2009 2010

Locations 35 34 34

Businesses 60 59 75

Pancake Breakfasts

1100 na 5500

Attendance estimate

5,000 6,000 8,000 – 10,000

U/ web visitors March

3670 5241 6636

Maple in the County

• From 2008 to 2010, attendees with household incomes over $75,000 increased from 44% to 49% (2,200 to 4,410 people)

• 2010, 88% - event was the main reason or contributed as a reason to visit PEC

• In the spring, we start Countylicious on the Maple weekend so we can promote a month rather than an event

Arts Trail/TasteTrail Guide

• Self-guided tour, signage, website, bilingual

• In 2010, Arts Trail/Taste Trail guides combined, circulation increased from 30,000 each guide to 60,000 combined

• Cost to participate, $1,500 plus TTC membership

Principles of Tourism Development

• Think visitor, not organization• Cross promote experiences (Taste Trail and

Arts Trail combined book), Countylicious and Arts, Countylicious and wine tasting tickets, Countylicious and Maple

• Don’t actually do anything, package things other people are doing (Maple in the County, Taste!, Countylicious, Arts and Taste Trail

• Link rural and village events and experiences, (Trails, county wide open house idea) to move visitors through the geography

Principles of Tourism Development

Most importantly:

• Have fun

• Keep your sense of humour!

What’s Next

• Engage all partners in strategic planning to respond to regionalization opportunity

• Made in PEC research and data solution

• Solidify our community branding

Good Luck!

Kathy Kennedy

Executive Director

Taste the County

ed.taste@bellnet.ca

613-393-2798