Point Edward, ON – Tourism Sarnia-Lambton is pleased to announce the Discover Sarnia-Lambton: Ontario Blue Coast Travel Rewards Program. This $300,000 partnership program is the largest program Tourism Sarnia-Lambton has ever launched. The program is funded in part by the Federal Economic Development Agency of Southern Ontario, as part of their Regional Relief and Recovery Fund (RRRF) and managed by the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO). The funding is a direct result of the Village of Point Edward implementing Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) on January 1st, 2020 and the loss of revenues occurring from Covid19.
During the Covid19 pandemic, tourism industry sectors were the first hit, the hardest hit and will take the longest to recover. Tourism Sarnia-Lambton’s Discover Sarnia-Lambton: Ontario Blue Coast Travel Rewards Program is built to strengthen and directly support our local accommodations sector, attractions sector, restaurant sector and retail sector.
How the rewards program works for each sector:
Accommodations Sector: Visitors who book a minimum two night stay at a participating accommodations providers throughout Sarnia-Lambton will receive $50 (two, $25 reward vouchers), visitors who book a three night stay will receive $75 (three, $25 reward vouchers), and visitors who book four night stays or more will receive $100 (four, $25 reward vouchers).
Transient Camp Sites: Visitors who book a minimum two night stay at a participating campgrounds (transient sites only) throughout Sarnia-Lambton will receive $20 (two, $10 reward vouchers), visitors who book a three night stay will receive $30 (three, $10 reward vouchers), visitors who book a four night stay will receive $40 (four, $10 reward vouchers) and visitors who book a five night stay or more will receive $50 (five, $10 reward vouchers).
Attractions Sector: Tourism Sarnia-Lambton has selected over one hundred attractions to market and promote “hyper-local” as part of our Discover Sarnia-Lambton: Ontario Blue Coast Travel Rewards Program. Starting August 17th for the next four months, Tourism Sarnia-Lambton will feature an attraction per day and reward up to fifty visitors experiencing and exploring the daily featured attraction with a $10 reward voucher.
Retail & Restaurant Sectors: Reward vouchers from both the accommodations and attractions sectors can be redeemed at a Tourism Sarnia-Lambton industry partner in the retail or restaurant sector. There are over 250 participating partners and a full list of accommodations for where visitors can stay, and for a list where vouchers can be redeemed at, can be found at DiscoverSarniaLambton.com. To find out which attraction we will be featuring each day, a post will be made daily on the Tourism Sarnia-Lambton: Ontario Blue Coast Facebook and Instagram pages.
“The Travel Rewards program developed by Tourism Sarnia-Lambton is one of the best tourism economic generator programs throughout Ontario”, said Beth Potter, President & CEO, Tourism Industry Association of Ontario. “Tourism Sarnia-Lambton is critical to the fabric of the local tourism sector in Sarnia-Lambton. The program announced today will engage visitors to experience and explore Sarnia-Lambton which will generate new revenue for the local tourism businesses and be a leader for local economy recovery efforts”.
“As one of the largest industries in Sarnia-Lambton, our tourism sector is vital to Sarnia-Lambton’s economy”, commented Mark Perrin, Executive Director for Tourism Sarnia-Lambton. “We are pleased to be a leader in the province, building and delivering this program to support all of our Lambton County tourism partners. This program is made possible through the partnership with FedDev Ontario and the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO)”.
Tourism Sarnia-Lambton will be marketing the program both “hyper-local” and within a 200km radius in Ontario. The program will be a driver for visitors to experience and explore Sarnia-Lambton while staying at our hotels, visiting our local attractions and using the reward vouchers at a Sarnia-Lambton retailer or restaurant.
Tourism Sarnia-Lambton will reimburse all participating tourism partners in the retail and restaurant sector that have collected vouchers during the program, as the program will inject $300,000 into our local economy, with an estimated economic growth impact of nearly 5 million dollars.
For additional information please contact:
Mark Perrin Executive Director
Tourism Sarnia-Lambton
1455 Venetian Blvd | Point Edward, Ontario | N7T 7W7 O: 519.336.3232. ext. 106
C: 519-384-1067
E:mperrin@tourismsarnialambton.com
Posted in: SLEP News