Tourism in Barrie isn’t just about the city’s jewel, its waterfront.
And it can’t be.
During a presentation Monday night on the tourism master plan, councillors heard that tourism can have virtually no limits if it’s to continue driving the economy.
“The waterfront here is identified as a key strategic asset, however it’s important that we look at the waterfront as more than just the waterfront,” said Stephannie Schlichter, Barrie’s director of economic and creative development. “It’s about managing the destination and that drives tourists to a complete experience beyond just the waterfront.
“So whether that’s coming downtown, shopping, dining, renting equipment to go through our park space, taking in a show, there is much more to draw tourists and tourist spending to the city," she added. "Tourism encompasses so much more and touches on so many parts of our local economy.”
Councillors gave initial approval Monday to a motion to receive, and approve in principle, Barrie’s tourism master plan, and have city staff report back next spring with prioritized recommendations on implementing and executing the plan — when COVID-19’s impacts on tourism and associated recovery conditions may be more conducive to implementing it.
“This is a post-pandemic plan, so one of the challenges for council… is it’s hard to imagine, having been into this for seven months, what the world was like even before this, let alone what it will be like after this, but one can imagine that we will return to a world where tourism is common,” Mayor Jeff Lehman said.
“It’s great that we have this plan,” said Coun. Gary Harvey, although he has concerns how it would be implemented next spring in the pandemic. “We’re obviously having to be very fluid with many aspects of even our day-to-day lives as a result of COVID-19.”
Schlichter says that’s the reason the tourism master plan is coming back to councillors in the spring.
“We are hopeful by spring of 2021 we will have a better sense of where things are at,” she said. “Implementation will really take a look at the program in context with what’s happening from a pandemic recovery and make recommendations accordingly.
“(This is) approval in principle for the overall strategy, report back in 2021 spring with a prioritized actions plan that is reflective of the health and economic conditions that we’re facing,” Schlichter said.
Coun. Jim Harris said Barrie’s waterfront could again be a challenge next spring and summer, given the city jacked parking prices, and fines, for non-Barrie residents and restricted parking around beaches at city parks.
“Certainly this summer we had an interesting experience at the waterfront,” he said. “I think every effort we made to keep people away didn’t actually work that well, so I think the people have found the beautiful waterfront of Barrie and are likely to return in 2021.”
The tourism master plan is designed to leverage and support the growth of existing tourism in this area, integrate sports, nature and business tourism, and provide direction on growing the sector overall. It also identifies specific strategies on how tourism could support the city’s economic development objectives, including the attraction and retention of talent and investment, diversifying economic sectors, and growing creative industries and knowledge-based sectors.
Also called the visitor economy, tourism includes all overnight and day visitors to a destination from leisure, business and sports segments, as well as the activities and expenditures involved in supplying products and services for these visitors by both the private and public sectors — transportation, food service, attractions, events and retail. Canadian tourism is worth almost $102 billion annually, and accounts for 10.6 per cent of the Canadian workforce — with youth employees making up 31 per cent of the tourism workforce.
The tourism master plan recommends a specific sport tourism strategy, noting the current mix of sport facilities in Barrie provides a good base for community use and some provincial competitions. It recommends investing in the further development of year-round outdoor assets for outdoor experiences such as nature and hiking trails, parks, cycling, snow-related events.
It also recommends supporting and investing in visitor-focused arts, cultural and live events, such as theatre, music and festivals.
Barrie and the surrounding region possess a variety of well-managed tourism attractions and assets, and a steady flow of visitor traffic throughout the area, but the tourism master plan illustrates that much of the traffic flows through Barrie on its way to regional destinations, rather than stopping and staying overnight in Barrie.
The tourism master plan was created following a series of meetings and visits with more than 80 key stakeholders. Tourism Barrie was part of the plan’s steering committee, which also included the Barrie Hotel Association, the Downtown BIA and city parks and recreation department staff.
The plan’s cost will not be finalized until next spring.
“I think there’s no doubt that tourism is a really important piece of our economy here in Barrie,” Coun. Clare Riepma said.
