The Pontiac Tourism Association held its annual general meeting on Wednesday. The meeting was held at the Pine Lodge in Bristol. The group gathered to elect a board, a president and go over the organization’s finances.

Owners and employees of a diverse set of tourist-oriented businesses and local . . .

economic support groups were in attendance.

Attendees also listened to presentations about the branding of the Pontiac as a road trip destination and previewed highly produced videos meant to showcase how intertwined local Pontiac businesses are called In It Together.

“Based on the past three training sessions we had, people are anxious to get out about and experience new things,” said Amy Taylor, business advisor at SADC Pontiac. “I think Pontiac is a great road trip destination, and that will benefit our operators greatly.”

“The event went well, and I think the tourism season is hopefully going to continue like the last two– covid definitely helped the Pontiac by pushing people west from the Ottawa-Gatineau area,” said André Piché, director of Chutes Coulonge Adventure Park. “Hopefully it’s going to continue with the end of the pandemic.”

“We have 16,000 people a year and I talked to most of them, and the pandemic is what is making them spend their money locally instead of traveling internationally,” said Piché.

“Honestly, I can see being the same as last or a little bit better,” said Katrina Soroka, who also works at Chutes Coulonge Adventure Park, about her prediction on the upcoming tourist season. “From the feedback I heard, I can only see that they want to come back.”

Jodi Armstrong, a Pontiac native who has recently purchased the Norway Golf course with her partner was also in attendance. Renaming the golf course to Astra Estates, they are currently in the process of getting ready to open the venue by spring.

“We’re really excited to bring a new venue to the area,” said Armstrong.

The meeting concluded with a presentation from SADC on how businesses could use Google analytics to track their advertising.

“This third is the series put on by SADC to help entrepreneurs,” said Taylor. “We just happened to do the same night of the tourism AGM to draw people in.”

“We’re teaching entrepreneurs how to track stats and use that information to market to the right demographic,” said Taylor.

SADC Pontiac is planning several more initiatives on insurance, bookkeeping, social media, and more to look at businesses in other regions.

It was announced at its annual general meeting that the Pontiac Tourism Association has about $24,000 in the bank, which can be used to support the tourism industry in the Pontiac.

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