The head of the Southwest Ontario Tourism Corporation (SOTC) says tourism is active in the region, despite figures showing otherwise.
According to numbers released recently by the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, tourism in the province set records in 2016, the most recent year surveyed. However, in the region spanning Windsor-Essex and Woodstock, the figures show tourism revenue went down.
In total, visitor spending in the region covering southwestern Ontario, tourists spent $1.12-billion in 2016, down from $1.25-billion in 2014, a 9.8% drop. Average visitor spending in the region in 2016 was $98 per person, down from $104 in 2014.
Jim Hudson, executive director of the SOTC, tells BlackburnNewsWindsor.com that he's seen the figures and they are not telling the whole story.
"It's not so much a discrepancy, but a misunderstanding," says Hudson. "People have tried to look at the change between 2014 and 2016. What they're failing to understand is that 2014 and before, Statistics Canada and the provincial government captured U.S. visitors. From 2015 onward, they don't."
Hudson says that in 2014, U.S. visitors spent over $330-million in the region.
The report also takes into account retail, which Hudson does not consider a part of the tourism picture. However, he says fewer Canadians who shop online are doing so with foreign-based retailers, a drop of 40% to 32%.
"Canadian online shoppers are still spending their money on a foreign website," says Hudson. "So we take a hit. Is that tourism? I don't think so."
Hudson attended the annual meeting Thursday of Tourism Windsor-Essex-Pelee Island (TWEPI), which he says is a region that has plenty to offer year-round. One indication of that is the thriving hotel industry discussed at the meeting. The recent opening of the Townplace Suites Hotel in Windsor is the latest in a total of $76-million in new hotel development in the downtown area. Hudson says that kind of investment would not happen if the industry was not doing well.
Hudson acknowledges that the region has had challenges to tourism in recent years, specifically pointing out the Lake Erie algae bloom in 2015 and the recent strike that shut down Caesars Windsor for two months.