NOTO holds provincial conference in Dryden

News — 02 November 2010

October 27 and 28 saw the arrival of many individuals for the 83rd Annual Nature and Outdoor Tourism Ontario (NOTO) Conference.

With many presenters on the two-day agenda, there were inquiring attendents from all over the province, including tourist camp operators, guiding companies, tourism industry officials, and provincial representation.

Day one began at The Centre, with presentations on the new tourism regions, FireSmart and protecting your property, competitiveness studies, tourism licensing and an update from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC).

The tourism licensing presentation was a sore spot for many tourist camp owners, as they majority feel there should be a standard licensing for all in the industry.

Some of the rationale behind this includes a proper inventory for purposes of sale. This would allow camp owners to have their moose shares and bear management areas on the licence, and have tangible assets to transfer forward.

Other rationale include the need for a compiled list of operators, to find out who’s out there, and use the licence as a type of enforcement and self-governing tool. This way, if a camp owner has some sort of misconduct, there is a penalty involved with removal of the licence.

The NOHFC presentation was done by the new Executive Director of the corporation, Bruce Strapp. Strapp introduced himself, gave some of his personal background and explained how he got to be in this current role.

He also outlined some of the initiatives that the NOHFC is currently working on, and what the NOHFC can offer the tourism industry.

Day two continued at the Best Western in Dryden, with presentations and workshops on many topics including Recreational Vehicle Safety and Legislation, marketing workshops, changing tourism markets workshops, Ontario Marketing Partnership presentation and a special presentation on Looking for Better Communications and Practical Solutions on the Border Issues.

The Sunset Room was packed with people for this hot topic, and even though the atmosphere in the room got quite heated at some points, the NOTO presenter did a great job of offering information, and attempting to offer help and advice to tourism operators.

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