Perth County Economic Development and Tourism is inviting residents and businesses to a strategy workshop on Tuesday, June 13.
Meredith Forget, Manager of Economic Development and Tourism, says they are collecting ideas to help develop a new five-year Economic Development and Tourism Strategy.
"So we're really looking for businesses to participate and provide their feedback on what's going well, what's not going well, where we can improve and what we can do to better serve our business community across the county," Forget explained.
There are two sessions on June 13 from 7-9 a.m. and from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., both at the West Perth Municipal Office in Mitchell. An online survey is also available.
Forget says some initiatives are already in place to better promote county tourism.
"Our award Winning Discover More Adventures program. It's our experiential tourism program that we offer for our business community. I'm a bit biased, but I think it's one of the best programs in the area, and I'm hoping our business community feels the same way, and I think that they do. So I think that we're gonna see more of a push toward that experiential tourism programming," added Forget.
On top of boosting tourism programming, Forget adds the county also wants to understand how to better foster Labour Market and Skills Development Programs. She says they're about to launch a Workforce Attraction and Retention Employer Toolkit to help with labour shortages, which she calls a huge barrier to businesses.
"So it will be showcasing best practices of what other businesses are doing across the country in attraction and retention initiatives, as well as housing initiatives. So unique housing options that other businesses are doing with 'how to' instructional guides to put it into play here. So that will be launched, but obviously, that isn't gonna solve our labour shortage," said Forget. "Hopefully, it will help alleviate some of the stress on our employers as they find creative ways to promote job sharing, and promote housing programs for new hires and to their current employees that they have on staff."
You can sign up for the sessions or take the online survey here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/perth-county-economic-development-and-tourism-strategy-tickets-638814941687
You can also contact Meredith Forget, Manager of Economic Development and Tourism by calling 519-271-0531 ext.150 or by emailing mforget@perthcounty.ca.