CORNWALL, Ontario – During the annual review presentation of the Cornwall Tourism Fund, made to City Council on Monday, Feb. 8, Tourism Fund Board Chair Etienne St. Aubin told council that the fund had started to set aside money to create an anchor tourism attraction in the city.
“This is the story of good people, working together collectively, to do good things for their community,” St. Aubin told City Council at the beginning of his presentation.
While there are yet to be any concrete ideas as to what a tourism anchor in Cornwall would be, St. Aubin acknowledged that the time was now to begin setting aside money. St. Aubin said that the Fund was setting aside on an annual basis a portion of its financing towards a tourism anchor project.
The Cornwall Tourism Fund was created in 2019 after Cornwall City Council implemented a Municipal Accommodation Tax, which is a four per cent levy on stays at rented beds in the city at hotels, motels, conference centres, etc. Half of the proceeds from the tax goes towards Cornwall Tourism, with the other half going into the Cornwall Tourism Fund.
The Fund is dedicated to supporting and promoting tourism in the city.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fund saw much lower revenue in 2020 than in 2019, with hotel occupancy down 17 per cent.
The Fund still approved $121,270 in funding and supported 17 projects including the Art Walk, Perch Magazine, Holiday Sparkle, Ribfest and more.
The full presentation can be viewed on the City’s website here.
Council praised the work that St. Aubin and the rest of the Board and Advisory Committee of the Fund had accomplished in 2020.
“I know it will take time to climb up to where we would be without COVID, but we would be a lot further behind without you and your committee,” said Councillor Elaine MacDonald.
Councillors praised the support that the Fund had given to Holiday Sparkle, which collected over 15,000 lbs of food for the Agapè Centre and over $16,000 in donations for the United Way of Cornwall-SD&G.
READ MORE: Holiday Sparkle ends on a bright note
“This could not have been replaced by anything else in any other year. We were grateful for all of the food that came through its doors which wouldn’t have been possible without the Sparkle Tour,” said Councillor Maurice Dupelle who serves as Chair of the Board of the Agapè Centre.
