THUNDER BAY — A community tourism strategy draws people to Thunder Bay, where they stay in hotels, shop, and dine in restaurants, helping to boost the local economy.
Well-planned strategic events can draw hundreds to the city, but these sporting and entertainment events often come with a large price tag.
The Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission (CEDC) offers a solution with its Tourism Development Fund grant.
Paul Pepe, manager of Tourism Thunder Bay, said the fund is powered by the CEDC's share of the municipal accommodation taxes and can help offset event costs.
"Private sector businesses are eligible to apply and receive non-repayable financial contributions to their tourism event or their tourism-business development or expansion," Pepe said. "It's a fund specifically for tourism businesses that can really help grow the tourism economy in the community and support tourism operators in a very meaningful way."
Pepe noted that the fund has supported events such as the Splish Splash Waterpark, Goods and Co. in their development as a draw to the waterfront shopping district and other private sector businesses.
"The funding is specific to tourism businesses that will help attract and retain new visitors to the city and expand the visitor opportunities and experiences," he said. "It will also benefit unique businesses that are new to the marketplace and aren't duplicating anything that's already out in the market."
Pepe said the CEDC is always looking for new ideas from the business and tourism communities as well as business operators who want to take an idea to the next level that they haven't put into play yet.
"The funds can play the role of being an equity bridge," he said. "It can help applicants if they're going after traditional financing, or it can provide funds to help build up their private equity because it's non-repayable."
The fund has supported more than 50 projects in Thunder Bay this year alone in both private and public sector tourism initiatives. Last year, the fund supported 37 projects through the entire year. Pepe said that was the first full year post-pandemic, where many people were starting to feel confident in the return of their events and wanted to develop their business ideas.
"People were a bit cautious for a couple of years. Now we're starting to see ideas really come out of the woodwork," he said.
"People are now starting to think about their ideas and from a sustainability perspective. We want to see ideas that are going to stick around and that are going to have some lifespan to them."
The organization has recently allotted $6,000 to bring more than 50 Ontario Mechanical Contractors Association board members to Thunder Bay for their annual meeting.
"It's important to help stimulate new events in the community, such as conferences, new sporting events, but also the development stream allows us to provide support to new business ideas that have tourism potential," Pepe said.
Applications for the grant can be found online on the CEDC website.
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