While it might be good news for the region's wildlife, hunters and anglers just aren't coming up here like they used to.
The city's tourism department is seeing strong growth in markets like conventions, motorcycle tours and cross country travellers, but it's not quite enough to fill the void left by the dwindling hunting and fishing camp.
City tourism manager Paul Pepe said that a lot of that market comes from the U.S. and as that population ages, the next generation isn't coming North to pick up the slack.
But the tourism sector did see some good news this year as visitors to the Terry Fox monument, indicative of cross-country travelers who at least spend the night in the city, were up 26 per cent from last year.
"More people are out traveling, more people are out exploring," Pepe said.
Visitors from Quebec were up nine per cent from last year, a number Pepe attributes to aggressive tourism campaigns by Direction Ontario.
Getting those people to stay an extra day can go a long way to help the local economy, especially when festivals are on.
And regional promotion, including partnerships with cities in the U.S. have helped with markets like motorcycle and automobile tours.
"We've really been able to reach out to that growing segment of the travel community," Pepe said.
