Local tourism operators and stakeholders have an opportunity to network with others in the sector this month.
Huron County's Economic Development Department is working with several local municipalities to host Ontario's West Coast Tourism Summit on April 24.
Economic Development Officer Rick Sickinger said the tourism sector was particularly challenged during the pandemic.
“We weren't able to bring people together to talk about how we weathered the pandemic, where we are now that we're at the other side, and how we move forward as a sector in the county because obviously tourism is an important sector to our economy," said Sickinger.
Sickinger said the Tourism Brochure Swap used to be a very popular annual event for the county's tourism operators until about 2017. He added this year's Tourism Summit will be very similar to that, as it will bring all of the operators, stakeholders, and municipal politicians together to look at how they can move forward. In the last five to six years, there have been a lot of new tourism operators who haven't had a chance to meet other people in the tourism business.
Sickinger says the keynote speaker for the event is President and CEO of Tourism HR Canada Philip Mondor. Sickinger says he is an accomplished leader with 35 years of experience working with labour market professionals across Canada and abroad.
“He will specifically be speaking to the challenges that our tourism and hospitality sector has had with staffing shortages since the pandemic, especially last year and 2022. The expectation is that those staffing shortages will continue in 2023,” he said.
Sickinger says he'll also be discussing some solutions and providing a tool kit for local tourism operators outlining how others across the county have dealt with staffing shortages.
Ontario’s West Coast Tourism Summit will be held on Monday, April 24 from 9:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. at the Libro Community Hall in Clinton. More information about the event and how to register can be found by going to Eventbrite.ca under Ontario's West Coast Tourism Summit.
