Councillors on tourism strategy committee caution consultant that council may have concerns

Two members of council gave the consultant behind the town’s tourism strategy some advice earlier this week – saying that if it’s not presented to council a certain way – it likely won’t be approved by the local government.

The tourism strategy committee approved the plan on Monday – before it heads to council for final approval.

Couns. Maria Mavridis and Wendy Cheropita are council’s representatives on the committee – and both provided the rest of the committee, as well as consultant Rebecca Godfrey from CBRE Tourism Consulting, a heads-up that some members of council have shared expectations of what they want to see when it is presented to local politicians later this month.

“Niagara-on-the-Lake is an extraordinary wine destination, known for its natural beauty and unrivalled cultural experiences,” reads the vision statement of the strategy as approved by the committee.

At the end of the hour-long discussion, it was agreed that the strategy will reorganize the order of what’s listed as priorities when it comes to cultural aspects of what the tourist town has to offer – but there was also discussion on a need to emphasize heritage assets – and to possibly scale back the attention given to Niagara-on-the-Lake being a place for winemaking and tasting – especially when Godfrey and her team present to committee-of-the-whole on March 19.

The strategy has a budget of $170,000 – with $100,000 of that amount covered by a grant, said town spokesperson Marah Minor.

Cheropita said it consists of “really rich data and research that has guided the discussions” since the committee was formed.

But she’s also hearing feedback that the strategy focuses too much on the local wine industry and not the town’s heritage identity.

“I think we need to address that,” she said during the committee meeting Monday, adding that the town’s history is something she believes also needs to be “front row and centre.”

Godfrey said she is “happy to focus on these items and ensure that comes through in the presentation.”

Mavridis cautioned that she has received similar feedback from councillors – that the strategy as laid out needs more focus on Niagara-on-the-Lake's heritage – it serving as the first capital of Upper Canada being one example that she said needs to be highlighted more.

“We need to get a little more emphasis put on that side because we feel we’re going to get a little bit of push-back from council,” she said.

“If it does go to council this way, it’s just going to get sent back,” she added.

Mark Torrance, vice-president of Peller Estates also sits on the committee. He questioned why it was previously agreed on that the wine industry would be the lead angle of the strategy – before the discussion Monday appeared to be dictating it should be otherwise.

“It started with wineries – now it’s slipping away,” he said, adding he does agree that the town’s history is vital to the strategy – and that he’s not opposed to it being a major component of it.

“I just feel there’s a bit of a shift happening,” said Torrance.

Committee chair Andrew Niven said the town’s heritage assets are definitely part of the strategy – but are perhaps not being “highlighted as strongly” as they could be.

“I don’t think we’re overlooking the winery perspective – we're just adding more of the cultural side,” said Niven.

Other than reordering priorities on cultural-heritage aspects of the strategy, a couple of other minor edits will be made ahead of the final version being presented as a result of recommendations made at the meeting.

But Godfrey insisted there is no need to make any further changes to the report.

“We’re fully committed to emphasizing the importance of all aspects” of what Niagara-on-the-Lake has to offer, she said.

Another direction given was that one photo in the strategy be replaced with one that doesn’t make the tourist district look “too crowded,” which was suggested by committee member Vlad Haltigin, who also recommended a photo of the Niagara-on-the-Lake ambassadors group be included.

Kris Dube, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Niagara-on-the-Lake Local