Tourism springboard to business startup (6/03)

Reviving the storied name of Georgian Bay Airways has proven to be a winner for Keith and Nicole Saulnier.

The young couple began operating a Parry Sound air charter and sightseeing business last December, flying a DeHaviland Beaver and a Cessna 180 float plane out of their waterfront base,

nestled just behind the Island Queen boat tours at the town dock.

"Since we've restarted the name everybody has such fond memories of it," says Keith of the well-

known air charter service that flourished from 1947 to the early 1980s.

The two are licensed pilots and graduates of Confederation College's flight-management program.

They bought the dockside property formerly occupied by 30,000 Island Air where Nicole was previously employed as chief pilot and operations manager.

They kept the popular tours of the islands, the fly-in fishing charters and the fly-and-dine packages going. But they also introduced some new ideas, putting together a fly-and-ATV package with Bear Claw Tours and making renovations to their dock front building to include an ice cream parlour and an aviation gift shop.

Judging by the crowds queued up for ice cream on the Victoria Day weekend and the thriving charter business catering to foreign visitors from Holland, Germany and China, their acquisition is paying off.

A tourism revitalization effort is underway in Parry Sound with new businesses springing up combined with major municipal and senior government investments being made. One such investment is in the construction of the Charles W. Stockey Centre for the Performing Arts, a new transient marina and ongoing waterfront development.

"Parry Sound has unlimited potential," says Keith, a native of Ignace, in northwestern Ontario. "It's just gorgeous here and the place is just vibrating with potential. It's a great little town."

"I think tourism is really going to take off here. It's just sitting here waiting to happen."

Tourism is one of the strongest contributors to the West Parry Sound economic base.

According to figures compiled by the Parry Sound Area Community Business and Development Centre, area municipalities take in an estimated $60.2 million a year in tourism spending from seasonal cottagers, cottage renters, overnight hotel guests, campers, transient boaters and day trippers.

The retail and accommodations sectors alone represent almost 40 per cent of the area's workforce, employing 1,129 people (20 per cent) and 1,114 employees (18 per cent) respectively.

The Georgian Bay Marketing Partnership intends to capitalize on this renaissance by unveiling a new wind-swept tree logo and brand for the shoreline and inland communities stretching from Port Severn to Killarney and east to Rosseau and Magnetawan.

The slogan "Georgian Bay Country, Rugged, Intimate and Majestic" was the suggested choice of area residents at public forums.

Jim Hanna, the newly minted tourism marketing manager for the partnership, plans to target southern Ontario and eventually extend the marketing campaign into the U.S. through travel shows, print and electronic advertising links.

Before the marketing partnership was formed, there never was a cohesive and co-ordinated regional marketing effort among the group of communities, compared to their eastern neighbours in Muskoka, says Hanna.

"It was very fragmented," says Hanna. "None of the communities are large enough to pack a big punch. Together we know we can get across a stronger message.

"We can't compete against Muskoka, but we can partner with them and build together."

Part of their mandate will be to promote the area's scenery, lakes, forests and extensive trail network as a four-season playground.

"A strong foundation already exists in winter tourism with snowmobiling, but we need to expand into the shoulder season market."

One area worth exploring is the growing ATV tourism market, says Andrew Ryeland, owner of Bear Claw Tours.

Since starting the guided ATV excursion company a year-and-half ago, Bear Claw has entertained about 400 customers, many of them European visitors staying at nearby resorts.

Through partnership links with other local tourism-related businesses such as bed and breakfasts, Ryeland offers a year-round Canada Safety Council-approved outdoor experience from his rural Shoebottom Road home.

Driving back from a whitewater rafting adventure made Ryeland realize a similar outdoor experience could work in Parry Sound.

"ATVing is such a hugely popular sport on the rise right now and no one is doing this kind of

adventure here," says Ryeland, an avid ATV rider and snowmobiler who also does some consulting work as a technology officer for a venture capital firm.

"Snowmobiling brings in about a billion dollars a year to Ontario, and ATVs are outselling snowmobiles four to one, so you can figure out the math and see what might happen."

On a private 60-kilometre long trail network, Ryeland offers guided half-day tours travelling through historic trails and heritage roads built in the 1860s, past old homesteads and barns of the area's early settlers.

"For people who want to get out of doors and see the backcountry, it's a great way to do it," Ryeland says. "We have refreshments along the trail and there are a lot of beautiful spots to take pictures.

During the summertime my customers go swimming at some of the lakes we go by."

Aside from the dozens of North American, German, Dutch and British tourists who visit the area,

Ryeland says Bear Claw also schedules corporate team-building outings.