Prescott and Russell counties have switched tourism regions, and the move is supposed to better promote the region as a visitor destination.
Previously, Prescott and Russell were part of Region 10, Ottawa and Countryside. Now, it is part of Region 9, Southeastern Ontario.
Ontario has 13 tourism regions designated by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Sport. They are shown on some websites and brochures, but not on road maps and highway signage.
The previous arrangement where Prescott-Russell was part of the same tourism region as Ottawa was not the best fit, with the mostly rural and small-town counties competing for attention with the urban Nation’s Capital.
“Prescott-Russell was a bit abandoned for tourists,” Glengarry-Prescott-Russell Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Stéphane Sarrazin remarked in September, 2023.
Sarrazin appeared before United Counties of Prescott and Russell (UCPR) council to explain the tourism region change and how the UCPR could be involved in Regional Tourism Organization (RTO) 9, the agency which coordinates tourism promotion across the Southeastern Ontario tourism region.
RTO 9 is headquartered in Kingston. Region 9 extends from Prescott-Russell and Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry in the east to Quinte West, in the west.
In Prescott-Russell, tourism was previously coordinated by the not-for-profit Tourisme Prescott-Russell Tourism (TPRT). The UCPR ended its funding for TPRT in 2021 and it has since been dissolved.
According to RTO 9 Executive Director Bonnie Ruddock, seats on the RTO Board of Directors are assigned according to its east, west, and central areas. Directors are selected based on their skills and involvement in the tourism industry. The RTO has designated 11 destinations within its jurisdiction and Prescott-Russell is one of those destinations. Usually, a Destination Marketing Organization (DMO), which can be any organization connected with the tourism economy, acts as a liaison between the RTO and local tourist businesses. The RTO focuses its work on five pillars: product development, marketing, workforce development, investment attraction, and partnerships. It also develops suggested travel itineraries and packages, performs data research, and participates in job fairs and employment incentives related to tourism.
Sarrazin is hopeful for cooperation with the RTO on promoting attractions in Prescott-Russell such as the Cyclo-Route it shares with neighbouring regional municipalities in Québec, the Prescott-Russell Recreational Trail, and agricultural food through the Eastern Ontario Agri-Food Network (EOAFN).
East Hawkesbury Mayor Robert Kirby said he would like to see increased efforts to promote tourism on the Ottawa River. He noted the past Ottawa River Festival.
Ruddock said the budget is not allocated by area or destination. Instead, the organization looks at possibilities about how to incorporate linkages between communities on a broader, regional level.
“We combine our efforts together where it makes sense, such as with cycling routes,” she said.
Changes in responsibility at the UCPR mean the regional government is unlikely to have direct involvement with RTO 9.
“We’re not really interested in taking this on,” UCPR Chief Administrative Officer Stéphane Parisien said.
In 2021, the UCPR dissolved its Department of Economic Development, which also had responsibility for tourism. The UCPR is no longer engaged directly in economic development activities. The Prescott-Russell Economic Development Corporation, which is federally-affiliated, is developing a new economic development strategy for the counties. The 2024 UCPR economic development budget is zero.
“We’re no longer in the tourism game at the county level,” Russell Township Mayor Pierre Leroux said.
Ruddock explained how the RTO is mostly funded by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Sport. In 2023, it received $1.3 million from the ministry and will be receiving additional funding to accommodate the addition of Prescott-Russell to its territory.
“Prescott-Russell will become a piece of our big group of geography,” Ruddock said.
RTO 9 is planning to develop what Ruddock described as a high-level tourism plan for Prescott-Russell. It will be up to each of the UCPR’s eight municipalities to decide if they want to provide any funding for that plan.
Ruddock said the RTO cannot provide funding to any specific organization. It may provide minimal event funding, but not on a sustained basis.
The UCPR plans to name the EOAFN as the local DMO for RTO 9.
