Initiative

The unique characteristics of tourism in Fort Frances, including significant drive-through traffic to Northwestern  Ontario, remote location vis a vis major urban centres, and border location drive the need for: a) a new product option positioned for the future and longer term that can attract folks from distance given product uniqueness and greater distance traveled are directly correlated; b) more “scrappy” tourism tactics that take advantage of current tourism patterns; c) creation of niche draws that leverage what Fort Frances has and can do. A key challenge for Fort Frances is that it has always been a drive-through community for anglers on the way to somewhere…further north. With 500,000 annual crossings at the international border, this is a lot of drive-through traffic.

A newly established Municipal Accommodation Tax was the catalyst for Rynic key stakeholder engagement, asset inventory and independent research that led to creation of a first-ever, holistic Tourism Development and Marketing Plan. The Plan identifies a vision for tourism development, a set of objectives and actions designed to work toward that vision, and a focus for current and future tourism development and marketing activities.

Five breakthroughs are contained in the Plan:

1) A balance between short-term hotel ROI tactics (e.g. yurt experiences, winter angling, shoulder season sports tournaments, stay and play packaging) and long-term product development pathways.

2) Fort Frances has more fully stepped toward greater presence of a primary NW Ontario product – angling – with better leverage of adjacent Rainy Lake vs default to more northerly fishing locations.

3) Fort Frances has developed a new and distinctive LEARN TO…fish/hunt/forage/track/cook market targeted at millennials and gen-younger Cultural Explorers (EQ Profile: 9% of US market, 12% of global market, 12% of Canadian market). While this product exists elsewhere, Fort Frances is the first to put this together in an integrated offering, driven by entrepreneurial guides, supported by online booking/marketing.

4) Pragmatically, simple low-on-the-ladder objectives help capture more tourism dollars from border crossings: The 30 Minute Stop, Shop and Go Market, and The 30 Hrs-3 Days Stay ‘n Play Market.

5) Enabling strategy and actions that nurture stays and longer stays via elevation of quality of experience:

• Enhanced Accommodation Experiences
• Placemaking – a “Beautiful Fort Frances” initiative with targeted actions of benefit to both tourists and Fort Frances residents (and extended economic development strategy via attraction of creators, entrepreneurs and footloose workforce attracted to a Fort Frances value proposition).