Body: Council Type: Document Meeting: Committee Date: 2018 Collection: Agenda Attachments Municipality: Frontenac County
[View Document (PDF)](/docs/frontenac-county/Item Attachments/Agenda Item/2019/May/2019-053 Community Development Advisory Committee Event Incentive Program 2018 Review/Event Incentive Program 2018 Review.pdf)
Document Text
Report 2019-053 Committee Information Report To:
Chair and Members of the Community Development Advisory Committee
From:
Alison Vandervelde, Community Development Officer
Date of meeting:
May 9, 2019
Re:
Community Development Advisory Committee – Event Incentive Program 2018 Review
Recommendation This report is for information only. Background The Frontenac County Economic Development Charter themes all relate to attracting visitors to the Frontenac region. The Accommodation Review (2017) identified the need to strengthen visitor traffic in autumn, winter and spring seasons to sustain existing businesses and to support the case for new business investment. In order to streamline funding to encourage events that will increase the impact and sustainability of tourism to the Frontenac region, County Council approved a 2018 budget allocation of $5,000 from the Community Development Reserve for the creation of an event incentive pilot program. The program operated on the basic premise of reimbursing an event promoter $10.00 for every tourist attracted to Frontenac County. The funding mechanism relies on organizers to estimate the number of visitors they will attract as part of their application. The County agrees to fund no more than this amount, and no less than 50% of the target. Event organizers develop their own methods for tracking visitors to their event. Details for the implementation of this program were outlined to the Community Development Advisory Committee in Report 2018-012. Comment In 2018, the County received 5 applications for the Event Incentive program, of which all were approved for participation in the program. However, only 2 applicants met 50% or more of their stated goal for visitor attraction and received funding.
Each event organizer enters into an agreement with the County of Frontenac by signing a letter of understanding which outlines the conditions for their incentive funds. In each application, staff work with the applicants to identify appropriate criteria and uses of their funds while encouraging conservative estimates for visitor targets. In every case, event organizers were below their target for visitor attraction and sometimes, as indicated above, they were significantly below their target. This demonstrates that additional education and understanding is required for event organizers to understand the demographics of their audience and the potential reach of their marketing efforts. It should be noted, that while significant numbers of visitors were not identified at all of the events, each event had excellent attendance recorded, often exceeding the expectations. This may indicate strong local support for events in Frontenac County which provides a good foundation to grow events to attract visitors from further afield. Sustainability Implications The Frontenac County Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (ICSP) identifies recreation and leisure as well as arts and heritage as dynamic elements of our community. Encouraging visitors to participate in recreational pursuits through festivals and events in Frontenac helps to introduce new social and economic capital into our communities, to be reinvested for the enjoyment of our residents, youth and families. Financial Implications $5000.00 was budgeted for the Event Incentive Program in 2018. $1190.00 was dispersed to 2 event operators in 2018. Remaining funds were returned to the Community Development Reserve. Organizations, Departments and Individuals Consulted and/or Affected
Information Report to Community Development Advisory Committee Event Incentive Program 2018 Review May 9, 2019
Page 2 of 2
