Duke Cormier, second right, president of Tourism Summerside, outlines the group's objectives to enhance the local industry at the organization's annual general meeting. Taking part in the discussions are, from right, Kevin Mouflier, vice-president, Richard Corkum, treasurer, and Carolyn Thorne, executive director. Mike Carson/Journal Pioneer.
SUMMERSIDE - Tourism Summerside is building its profile to help enhance the tourism market in the area.
President Duke Cormier outlined Wednesday, what the group has accomplished and where it hopes to be in the future at Summerside Tourism's Annual General Meeting.
"Up until about a year-and-a-half ago, Tourism Summerside was kind of dead in the water," Cormier said. "We weren't very active. We weren't meeting on a regular basis. We weren't doing our job."
The province provided Tourism Summerside with funding to hire an executive director and the board employed Carolyn Thorne.
"Carolyn has been in place for about 20 months," he said. "Through that, we've had someone to manage the day-to-day operations of who we are and start to build. That process through 2011 was a tenuous, uphill process of going from nowhere to somewhere to where we're meeting on a monthly basis and that we have daily activity going on."
Cormier said one of the first initiatives Throne undertook was putting a website together to encompass all of the tourism activities in the area.
"I think we've come a long way on that," he said. "The visitation rate on that has been great."
Cormier said membership packages for Tourism Summerside have been developed and distributed throughout the industry. Membership is free.
"It doesn't give you a voting membership but it gives you the ability to receive information from us and see the benefits of what the organization is doing," he said. "We need people to stand up, take the time and fill out an application form, start to receive information, get on the mailing list so we can start to communicate with the industry. The more well informed we are, the better the decisions we make in going forward in our businesses."
Cormier said the city has a strong commitment to building the tourism dollar in Summerside.
"In May they're bringing in RBC Cup," Cormier said. "Last year the (world) curling was here. There's an ongoing effort and commitment to bring concerts here. They were supportive of Atlanticade last summer. They're supportive of lobster carnival. This city is very much behind tourism."
Cormier said tourism is struggling everywhere.
"Tourism, I would love to say is a growing business," he said. "It's not. Worldwide it's a flat business. Without the help of the city, we'd probably be less than flat."
Cormier said last year Tourism Summerside adopted a three-year strategic plan.
"In three years we want to have a solid membership," he said. "Work co-operative with other tourism-related organizations and businesses and be the consult for tourism information and assistance for members and increase Summerside tourism through increased visitation.
"That's where we want to be and hopefully where we're heading."
One of the major issues facing the tourism industry is the proposed three-per cent provincial levy on accommodations.
"As a board, we have not even discussed it," Cormier said. "This coming Friday there's going to be a meeting in Charlottetown with provincial representatives, Tourism Industry Association of P.E.I. representatives and the presidents of the six regional tourism associations across P.E.I. and we're going to get into a room and put some meat on the bone.
"There is lots of talk going on about what the levy's going to do or not going to do, who's going to get the money and who's going to be the winners and the losers."
Cormier said they intend to go into this meeting with their eyes wide open.
"We are not going to into this blindly and we're not going to do anything that's going to hurt the organization on a go-forward basis," he said. "If we don't come out at least as good tomorrow as we are today, plus the ability to go and grab some additional dollars, then what's the good of the levy? We're not against the levy but I think we need to put some meat on the bone, and have a better understanding about what the levy is all about."
