Tourism Advisory Committees (TAC)

The 4 Tourism Advisory Committees met in November 2022 to review tourism performance for the current year and also to discuss opportunities and threats in 2023 and beyond for the local tourism economy. Some common threads included:

• Staff shortages. Concerns were shared across the board about lack of staff, partly due to higher cost of living and low attainable housing/rental stock, as a primary challenge in 2022 and a high priority issue to navigate moving forward. The teenage/college demographic cannot see the benefits and are not willing to work in the tourism sector along with having quite a bit of choice for employment.
• VIA and GO train schedules do not work for the employees and advocation for better transportation times and links could help with this.
• Inflation and rising input costs. The general consensus was that increased costs were being passed on to the visitor/consumer, and that this appeared to be mostly accepted through demand, but there were questions around how long this would continue for and when the price increases would hit a threshold that would negatively impact demand.
• Concerns around a potential recession starting in 2023.
• July, 2022 seemed to be soft, but the last half of the year was quite strong in terms of sales, bookings and demand.
• US border crossing restrictions and complicated requirements were detrimental, but things improved over the summer and fall with a return of many Stratford visitors from the US. Still at much lower rates than pre-pandemic.
• An accommodator enquired about the Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) communications from the City along with some specific questions, which have subsequently been answered. The City has also now updated their MAT web page and is hosting an info session for accommodators in February.
• A suggestion was made to have a point person available to send out communications or a calendar to advise the hospitality sector for staying open later and bringing in more staff.
• “Culture is a big part of our city and city investment is needed.”
• “With summer events, there is a need to have the city making the water truck available when needed.”
• “With Chinese and Japan visitors (Asian communities) coming to Stratford, we should be marketing to attract multicultural and multi-language patrons. Signage around the city should be multicultural. We need to be better prepared to make Stratford more welcoming for these patrons to come and visit with the need for local and multicultural tourism ambassadors.”

DESTINATION STRATFORD
TOURISM ADVISORY COMMITTEES (TAC)
TERMS OF REFERENCE

V1 March 9, 2023

Purpose

Destination Stratford (DS) has created advisory committees for tourism sub-sectors, including accommodation, culinary, festival/event/attraction, and retail. Each TAC will meet at a minimum twice per year (early Spring and late Fall) to share and discuss opportunities and challenges from each sector’s perspective that will help inform and shape DS Marketing, Development and Management initiatives. There are approximately 10 members on each committee that represent a broad spectrum within each sub-sector.

Timing

The Tourism Advisory Committees were formed in late 2022 and are intended to remain in place moving forward.

Roles

The role of Tourism Advisory Committee members is to:

• Advise and provide feedback on the visitor economy, destination marketing and destination development by sharing and discussing opportunities and challenges from each sector’s perspective;
• Share best practices within the Committee;

Responsibilities

A Tourism Advisory Committee member will serve as a tourism industry representative of the local Stratford area.

The responsibilities of Tourism Advisory Committee members are to:

• Attend Advisory Committee meetings;
• Respond to email inquiries from the Chair on tourism-related issues;
• Respect the Tourism Advisory Committee Ground Rules (provided at the beginning of each meeting);
• Review and provide feedback on draft destination documents/reports;
• Speak only on behalf of the committee if delegated to do so; and,
• Work collaboratively and be open to a variety of ideas and views for improving Stratford’s visitor economy and community.

Advisory Committee Meetings Chair

The Advisory Committee meetings will be chaired by the Executive Director of Destination Stratford.

Timing, Tenure and Committee Meetings

Tourism Advisory Committee members are asked to serve on an ongoing basis and attend Advisory Committee virtual Zoom meetings at a minimum twice per year (once in Spring and once in Fall). Meetings are at the call of the Chair with every effort made to schedule for maximum attendance. It is anticipated that there will be 2 Tourism Advisory Committee meetings annually, potentially with up to 2 additional meetings for specific tourism development projects or initiatives.