SAULT STE. MARIE --
A northern Ontario tourism agency is helping hotels, restaurants and tourism outfitters market themselves to snowmobilers.
Tourism Excellence North is launching a series of training videos with an aim on finding "The World’s Best Snowmobile Destination."
Tourism Excellence North and marketing firm Markey Consulting are hoping a series of instructional videos will help tourism-related businesses across northern Ontario to cash-in.
“Some of them are specifically geared to municipalities and how-to-groom-your-roads, that kind of stuff, signage,” says Marla Tremblay of Markey Consulting.
“Some are geared toward accommodations, restauranteurs, service stations, gas bars, that kind of stuff.”
Tremblay says the videos are especially helpful to those who are unfamiliar with a snowmobiler’s unique needs when it comes to accommodations.
“Things that people haven’t thought about like those extra hooks to hang wet clothes and places to dry your boots and things like that that we don’t normally have to provide to regular tourists or regular business tourists.”
One hotel owner in Timiskaming Shores says the videos are worth your time if you’re a tourism-related business owner.
“These are actually extremely entertaining and you’re gaining some knowledge as well,” says Sean Mackey, owner of the Holiday Inn Express.
"I think they did a great job with the videos and I would encourage anyone that runs a snowmobile-related business to definitely watch them."
Mackey says his hotel typically hosts a number of snowmobilers every winter and it’s important that his staff is able to look after their needs.
"Your staff need to be able to speak snowmobile," he says.
"They need to be aware of where the local trails are, how to get access to the trails, where to get gas, what restaurants to recommend that are snowmobile-friendly."
According to Tourism Excellence North, the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs has more than 100,000 permit holders.
It says that translates to millions of potential tourism dollars and thousands of jobs.