Chatham-Kent's tourism sector is getting some help with recovering from the financial fallout of COVID-19.
Chatham-Kent Tourism recently found out that it is receiving $90,492 in funding through the Ontario Regional Relief and Recovery Fund.
In May, the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario announced that $35 million of funding would be made available to enable the tourism sector to recover from economic disruptions associated with COVID-19. Chatham-Kent submitted its successful funding application in June.
The money must be spent by the end of 2020 and will be used to support tourism operators in Chatham-Kent and to help the local tourism sector recover overall in the wake of the pandemic.
"The tourism sector has been substantially impacted by COVID-19," read a municipal staff report. "Tourism oriented businesses felt the immediate impact of provincially mandated closures in March, with many unable to open until Phase 3. Even at that, with international travel restricted, inter- and intra-provincial travel reduced, and day trips curtailed, confidence and willingness to travel will undoubtedly be impacted for the foreseeable future."
Chatham-Kent Tourism will be taking a two-pronged approach to allocating the funds. A portion of the money will be going to directly support tourism businesses, including providing a CK Tourism Toolkit which includes hand sanitizer, reusable masks and mandatory mask signage.
Funding will also go towards promoting tourism in Chatham-Kent including the new "See You in CK" marketing campaign, which features videos that showcase Chatham-Kent’s range of tourism assets as well as the "Win your dream day in CK" competition.
"A phased approach to marketing and promotional activity is being adopted and the transition from promoting to local audiences towards promoting to regional and national ones will be made with due caution so as to help ensure the Chatham-Kent community and tourism operators are equipped and ready to welcome visitors," read the report.
