REPORT TO GENERAL COMMITTEE
TO:	Mayor and Members of Council
FROM:	Jim Baird, Commissioner of Development Services Stephen Chait, Director of Economic Development
PREPARED BY:	Stephen Chait, Director of Economic Development
DATE OF MEETING:	2006-Jan-23
SUBJECT:	Tourism Markham

RECOMMENDATION:

That the report entitled “Tourism Markham” be received,

And that the presentation by the Region of York Economic Development Department be received.

BACKGROUND:

At the November 21, 2005 meeting of the General Committee, a presentation was made by Mr. G. McCormick (Information Markham) informing the Town of an initiative to have Information Markham serve as “a local level centralized provider of Markham tourism information” (Attachment 1). Information Markham has examined the need for tourism and visitor services information in Markham, and has proposed to Markham Council that Information Markham take the lead role, with “in kind” support from Town Departments (Extracts of the Nov. 21/05 meeting and presentation are attached). General Committee received the presentation, and asked staff to report back in January 2006 on:

· The amount of funding currently allocated to tourism-related initiatives

· Detail of the work undertaken by York Region Tourism and how it impacts the Town of Markham

· The merits of increasing the funding of Information Markham to enhance its service as a tourist information bureau.

OPTIONS/DISCUSSION:

The Town currently contributes a variety of development and marketing related resources in support of Markham tourism initiatives

Within the Town’s existing departmental functions, there are several examples of on-going and occasional contributions to tourism development and marketing.

The Economic Development Department supports tourism in the following ways:

• Produce DVD (multi-lingual, multi-purpose information)
• Tourism information is included in the Information Kits taken by staff and Councillors out of town, and provided to prospective clients and at business and conference events (est. over 3000 kits per annum)
• Promote business events in Markham through Internet postings, print ads, and business-to-business channels. All of these events generate visits to Markham by non-residents (e.g., RFID, Bell Canadian Open, Economic Alliance visits, etc.)
• Provide hats, souvenir pins, brochures, and DVD’s to Markham sports teams journeying out of the country
• Provide conference organizers with letters of support, DVD’s, information kits, etc.
• Work on special projects (e.g., SARS recovery, provide market data for feasibility studies)
• Host visits by dignitaries who in turn help to promote Markham to others (e.g., Consuls General, Contessa Marconi, etc.)
• Produce and provide high quality photography of key Markham properties
• Provide orientation services to prospective investors and to new employees of large new firms moving to Markham (i.e., inspires visits by spouses and return visits).

The Community Services Commission also has several departmental functions that directly contribute to tourism in Markham The Commission’s Event Co-ordinator (Tina Murphy) provides one-stop service in support of community events being held in Markham including events being hosted in major hotels and by sports organizations. The Co-ordinator is annually engaged in providing special events logistical support to an estimated 150 events hosted within Markham that utilize Town resources. At least 30% of these events are significant attractors of major numbers of out of town visitors. Examples include: Markham Village BIA and Unionville Village BIA street events, Chinese New Year celebrations at the Civic Centre, Unionville Festival, Thornhill Festival, etc. The Town’s Operations group consisting of the Roads and Parks departments are integral to the support of these events. Numerous resources are required to ensure a successful event. Examples include: signs, street cleaning, barricades, and waste management support. The Town’s three major cultural venues are in themselves tourism generators by providing programs and attractions that are of interest to non-residents. Through their annual promotion campaigns, they also contribute to the marketing of tourism in Markham.

· The Markham Theatre estimates that 42% of its tickets are purchased by non-Markham residents. Each year the Theatre spends $100,900 on discretionary advertising of its programs. Of its total annual marketing expenditure $35,000 is spent on advertising outside of Markham.

· The Markham Museum estimates that 4,650 of its annual visitors are non-Markham residents. Each year the Museum spends $25,000 on marketing its programs. Of its total annual marketing expenditure $4,500 (18%) is spent on advertising outside of Markham.

· The Varley Gallery estimates that 40% of its visitors are non-Markham residents. Each year the Gallery spends $62,000 on creative design and marketing its programs. Of its total annual marketing expenditure $40,000 is spent on advertising that extends beyond Markham.

The Region of York has established a professionally staffed and focused tourism function which provides marketing support to Markham

The Region of York’s tourism marketing program is based on developing and promoting a range of tourism experiences in all of the municipalities of the Region. Regional staff work collaboratively with members of local councils and staff of the local municipalities to ensure that the Region’s marketing program is “in sync” with local objectives to encourage local awareness of tourism opportunities that enhance spending in local businesses. Regional staff believe that in order to sustain market share in the leisure, corporate and travel trade segments, a strong unified regional scale marketing approach is the most cost-effective to local tourism businesses, rather than individual municipal marketing programs.

Copies of the Region’s 2006 Tourism Marketing Program, and a Powerpoint presentation are attached to this report.

Within its existing budgeted resources, the Town has the potential capacity to assist Information Markham in its development as a tourist information bureau

Information Markham has some existing capacity to add tourism related information distribution to its existing function. For instance, the existing brochure racks in the Civic Centre can be used for this purpose, and staff can potentially be trained to be conversant with data of interest to inquiries from visitors. The Town (within its already established programs and resources) has the potential to contribute incrementally to the envisioned Information Markham tourism mandate in the following ways:

Corporate Communications can assist through its regular on-going media vehicles including:

• Providing a link to the future Tourism Markham website on the Town’s website
• Including occasional tourism items on the Town Page in the Markham Economist & Sun and in the Thornhill Liberal
• Featuring tourism in the 2007 Markham Calendar
• Including tourism information in the 2007 edition of Living In Markham
• Including a feature on tourism in a future edition of About Markham
• Featuring tourism information on the Electronic Information Board in the Civic Centre (and other future locations)
• Contribution of articles in the Markham Board of Trade’s MB Magazine, and Economic Development’s Markham Leader
• Facilitating appropriate quotes from the Mayor or Councillors for Tourism Markham media releases.

The Town’s Information Technology Services Department (ITS) can contribute to the tourism mandate by providing:

• Internet connections for 2 computers used by Tourism Markham
• 1 generic email account (could be shared by 2 or more computers)
• Wireless access wherever services already exist
• One telephone, one extension (costs to be borne by Tourism Markham)
• One toll free (1-800) number (costs to be borne by Tourism Markham)
• Tech service support for standard hardware, software, backups, phone
• Support and resources for Internet publishing in conjunction with Corporate Communications
• Assistance with selection and evaluating purchase of CRM software
• Current ITS models of laptop or desktop including licenses for MS Office (costs to be borne by Tourism Markham)

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

The financial value of the Town’s contributions to tourism are not easy to calculate because the majority of related expenditures are only fractions of larger programs. This is particularly problematic when seeking to identify staff/salary related costs. A conservative estimate of the existing annual direct tourism non-salary expenditures is provided below:

Economic Development $15,000 - $25,000

Event Co-ordinator nil (no marketing or out of pocket expenditures)

Markham Theatre $35,000

Markham Museum $4,500

Varley Art Gallery $40,000

_____________________

$94,500 - $104,500

The additional services potentially to be provided by Corporate Communications and ITS are estimated to be worth at least $7,500-$12,500 per year and like the expenditures shown above, they are part of each department’s base operating budget and are not specifically assigned to tourism programs. However, they may be attributed towards the promotion of tourism within Markham.

BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:

The following departments were consulted and provided their input to this report:

Economic Development Department Information Technology Services

Corporate Communications Community Services Event Co-ordinator

F.H. Varley Gallery Markham Museum

Region of York Economic Development Dept. Markham Theatre

ATTACHMENTS:

1. Tourism Markham presentation Nov. 21/05

2. General Committee Nov. 21/05 extract

3. Region of York 2006 Tourism Marketing Program

4. Region of York Tourism Presentation to Town of Markham

Stephen Chait, Ec.D., CMC Director of Economic Development

Jim Baird, M.C.I.P., R.P.P. Commissioner of Development Services