HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2016-10-05, Page 1818 News Record • Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Huron Tourism Association votes to disband citing unclear vision and slashed budget from county
Darryl Coote
Postmedia Network
The Huron Tourism Associ-
ation (HTA) voted to disband
Sept. 27, stating it no longer
had the means, authority or
ability to function effectively
following the county's recent
restructuring of its economic
development department.
Its President, Kim Burgsma,
said it was a sad end for the
27 -year-old industry associa-
tion but it was left with no
other option after Huron
County decided in December
of 2015 to reduce the associa-
tion's county support from
about $200,000 to $10,000 in
cash and in-kind human
resources.
"We don't see any way
around it," she the day after
the vote. "With the lack of
funding and staff support that
we now receive, it's not possi-
ble for us to do the things that
were done in the past."
The decrease in funding
went into effect Jan. 1, 2016,
and was the byproduct of a
restructuring plan signed two
weeks earlier by county coun-
cil to give more emphasis to
economic development in
Huron.
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The restructuring plan,
which lays out seven key
growth sectors -- one of which
is tourism now combined
with arts and culture -- follows
the creation of the economic
development department
under two years ago in a move
by the county to address its
stagnating industry.
Since Jan. 1, however,
Burgsma says traffic to the
county's tourism website has
dropped 50 per cent on year
sounding the alarm that tour-
ism has not been a focus for
the economic development
department.
"It's down 50 per cent
because there isn't a dedi-
cated tourism staff that is
offering contests, promotions
and different social media
that could be attracting visi-
tors, she said.
She said the decision to dis-
band was in part to spur the
economic development
department to take ownership
over the tourism sector and
"force them to do something
for tourism in Huron County:'
Burgsma's other issue is
that she has been unable to
discover the department's
plan for tourism. If she knew,
she said, it might have been
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possible for the HTA to func-
tion alongside the economic
development department, but
without the plan the two
organizations' objectives
might overlap causing redun-
dancies and a waste of
resources.
"Their strategic plan to us is
vague," she said. "I would like
to trust that since tourism is
one of the pillars of economic
development in the county --
they identify that in their draft
plan -- that they have some
sort of plan they will move
[tourism] forward in the
future, but we're not aware of
what that is."
However, the director of the
economic development
department, Ron Gaudet, says
the restructuring will place
tourism in greater focus.
Over the phone Sept. 29,
Gaudet said the restructuring
of economic development
was done to better address a
rapidly changing world.
"Our new strategy speaks to
addressing that by giving
more capacity and building
strength around tourism. And
in the future -- hopefully not
too distant future -- giving it
more attention and more lev-
erage," he said.
He said the department is
in transition, which may make
its direction appear murky to
the HTA, but it is anything but.
"We're really trying to ele-
vate each of the sectors," he
said. "It's unfortunate the per-
ception was a weakening of
the organization. That was
never the intent. That being
said, we're now prepared to
move forward and continue
our emphasis on tourism, arts
and culture'
One reason for the drastic
drop in staff support to the
organization was because
they could no longer dedicate
resources to any one of the
seven sectors, he said.
Questions also arose
around whether it was
appropriate for the county to
perform the day -to -daywork
of the HTA when it's a mem-
bership association that did
not include every player in
the industry, he said.
Before the restructuring,
much of the $200,000 went
to work hours by Huron
County staff.
After, the allotted $10,000
for the next three was to help
the HTA establish itself as a
healthy industry -lead asso-
ciation, he said.
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"We had offered to work
with them," he said. "Again,
we can't fund an industry -
lead association. Healthy
industry associations need
to be lead by industry."
Following the restructuring,
the county's manufacturing
association was offered the
same deal, Gaudet said, and
they "jumped at the chance to
become more self-sufficient!'
"They have gone through
strategic planning exercises
with the [Ontario Ministry of
Agriculture, Food and Rural
Affairs], they have their
$10,000 -- albeit not a lot of
money -- and they are going
forward and really being
industry focused and indus-
try driven, and we will look
at ways to support their
efforts going forwards," he
said.
That was the intent for the
HTA as well, he said.
However, with the HTA
soon to be dissolved the eco-
nomic development depart-
ment will be looking for
other avenues for industry
participation.
Gaudet wouldn't say he
was disappointed that the
HTA will be no more, only
that he is disappointed it had
the notion the county was
less interested in attracting
tourist dollars.
"We're very serious about
[tourism], and we know the
tourism operators and mem-
bers of the association had a
real conviction to the indus-
try as well. And we appreci-
ate that. We acknowledged
it. We appreciate it," he said,
adding that he is grateful for
all their work. "I guess if
there's any disappointment
it is the perception that the
county is trying to weaken its
effort in tourism. That is not
the case," he said.
As the owner of a hotel,
Burgsma is invested in
Huron County tourism
whether the association
exists or not, she said. And
she wants to be a part of the
process and she wants to
know exactly what the coun-
ty's plan is.
"Times change and things
sometimes have to change
as a result," she said. "And
the county has assured us
that they have a plan for
tourism, so we're going to
trust in that but they have
not been able to communi-
cate to us what that plan is!'
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