Columnists
Tapping out our audience
I’ve been thinking, while I’m not writing, but just looking and thinking and watching. There’s not much for me to write about, because everyone right now is fighting about three things: The Wellington waterworks project, Picton Terminals port and Fawcetteville development. Lots of good smart people are handling this, so my voice is not necessary. Fighting these battles is a good thing. Before I proceed, I have one observation that may be useful:
Communication. Council is up there in the heavens, doing what is best for us. According to them. Can’t fault them for that. We elected them to look after us. But we have this weird system in which we cast a vote, and then walk away, leaving our County Council to handle whatever comes their way, until we have a problem with that.
So Council plans for our future, just like we asked them to. Then ‘our future’ collides with us because ‘plans’ actually affect us, and not always in a positive way. So Council holds public meetings, and tells us what they’re doing.
In my view, these meetings do not draw a lot of people. At least at first. They are usually: “Here’s a pile of people who know stuff, and they’ll use big handy styrofoam boards with charts and Venn diagrams or, God forbid, PowerPoint to wow you with colourful statistics and projections you can’t absorb without a PhD and a team of ‘smart people’ you found on Craig’s List.”
This is not my world, because my concerns relate to creating a stable County economy.
LET’S TALK TOURISM
I’m okay with tourism. It doesn’t do much for my business, other than handing out maps to lost people, and bidding them a nice day. But other businesses count on them. Heavily.
Word on the street says business is down this year. Way down. Local businesses are hurting because we know the drill: Business tanks in January and February. March and the previous months rely on locals, and most shut down during those dead months to avoid overhead expenses and paying staff and carrying on, when no customers appear.
Even in the tourist ‘peak season’, our local businesses suffer from lack of staff. We have problems. I observe, and I see a lot of people in Bloomfield walking the streets. I don’t see many of them carrying shopping bags. I see lots of traffic on Main Street in Picton going somewhere. Also not shopping, just going somewhere, clogging the street, and parking inappropriately with huge RVs in the Liquor Store parking lot.
I’m thinking we have tapped out our audience. We had a good run. Hell, Toronto papers were singing our praise during Covid, when we were all shut down and locked down. Since then, we are no longer the glory vacation visit.
GETTING A HANDLE ON THIS
People are still drawn to the County. But for different reasons. They used to come here for the ‘feeling’ of being in the County. That’s not the crew we have now. We have watched the County go ‘high-end’ with top-notch accommodations costing more than my month’s rent for a two-night stay. We have watched top-notch restaurants, who do well with tourist dollars, but are a ‘special occasion’ expenditure for locals.
The County business landscape is changing. It is probably a good thing—as long as it lasts. But with visitors down, and sales down in most retail businesses, it seems to me that the glory days of the County as the ‘must-go’ vacation spot is fading. Just like in previous hot spots across Ontario, which became suddenly and unexpectedly no longer hot.
I’m not sure why this is happening. Could be increasing costs of travelling; people cutting back on vacationing. Also could be we’re like Disney World – we don’t do it every year. Been there a couple of times, time for something else. Could be people are moving on. The County? Been there, done that.
Could be people are not travelling at all this year, having other financial concerns dealing with increasing costs of just maintaining the home and feeding the family.
SO WHAT NOW?
The County has done well marketing itself, through an endless chain of successful, and sometimes useless, campaigns. We carry on, as if things were normal, when they’re not normal.
We are losing our audience.
For all the great things we do—great events, culinary excellence, concerts, music on every patio in every winery and pub, and our usual friendly attitude— we are slipping behind the ‘go to’ places. Metro people came here because they were looking for something new. We were it. I watch these patterns and, when they found us, they left their previous ‘love vacation’ and came here. Their lost loves are now finding new ways to reinvent themselves.
It may be the same here in the County. We still have great things going on, but our promotion of the County still lies in promoting the County. By that I mean: The days of promoting the County as a place to go does not tell anyone what we do, what’s happening, what’s to do when.
Sure, there’s stuff on websites—if anyone finds it. I read stories in the papers of events I did not know happened! I’m a local for God’s sake, and I find myself going: “Man, I would have gone to that if I knew it was happening.” And I live here! Groups who hold events need to promote them. Sure, it costs money to advertise, but no-one will show up if they don’t know you’re there.
Internet doesn’t cut it. Our marketers think everyone else in the world uses Internet to tell them what’s up. These same people think GPS will lead them to the place they seek, and they are still finding their way around Waupoos, on route to Demorestville.
Internet sucks. Imagine how hard it is for a visitor— who thinks they’re in Wellington when they’re in Bloomfield, asking for directions to Picton, like it could be a huge journey. Trust me. I run the infocentre in Bloomfield, and you would not believe the questions I get. My favorite is: “What’s the fastest way to get to Demorestville from here?”
(I do have a fast way, but they would end up circling Fish Lake until they ran out of gas.)
SO, WHAT ABOUT US?
Are we in a lull? Are we a victim of increasing costs of food and gas? Are we Old News, and visitors are out exploring new ground? Is this just an anomaly in what has previously been a regular tourist boom?
We got hit in the Covid years, and we hurt. We recovered. With every business reporting dollars way down this year (25 per cent of last year) we hurt again.
New businesses—home and small businesses—are starting up, and they, again, may show our future. I can only hope we support them. They may help us survive. For our long-standing businesses, I hope they hold on. Everything changes.
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