THUNDER BAY -- The North of Superior Tourism Association has re-branded itself.
The organization on Thursday announced it will henceforth be known as Superior Country, an attempt to find a name that represented the region better than the former moniker, said Dan Bevilacqua, NOSTA’s executive director.
The new name and logo, which features an outline of Lake Superior merging into a maple leaf, drew on a pair of highly successfully marketed destinations in the region.
“We decided to incorporate the lake and now it has a more vibrant colour scheme than it did before,” said Bevilacqua.
“It says we have superior offerings, superior attractions, superior fishing and hunting and we really want to focus on being a grassroots organization representing the communities and the businesses here and drawing tourists into the area.”
The decision was nearly a decade in the making.
It was one-on-one interaction with travelers, starting in 2007, that convinced them the change was necessary. It just wasn’t an immediate priority nine years ago.
But the time has come, Bevilacqua said.
“On the west we have Sunset Country while on the east we have Algoma Country,” Bevilacqua said. “They’re extremely well marketed and NOSTA was falling behind those other regions. Now, through this new name, through our new website and talking directly to our stakeholders and travelers through our region, we’re planning on bringing the new name forward.”
The lake was always going to be central to any new design.
“Lake Superior is an image in itself and we planned to utilize that image and we have for many years through the Lake Superior Circle Tour publication we issue annually,” he said. “
Superior Country represents an area between White River in the east, English River in the West and Greenstone to the north.
In other NOSTA news, the group held its annual general meeting on Thursday, where an $18,026 budget surplus was revealed.
