Robert Fisher
Staff Reporter
MAYNOOTH – North Hastings Tourism Services delegated to council for the Municipality of Hastings Highlands at its Jan. 28 meeting seeking a small contribution of $500 for the 2026 season. They were also seeking council support for their request to Hastings County for financial support. The tourism services group shares space in the Bancroft Heritage Museum building.
Mary Kavanaugh, representing the group, told council the tourism group interacted with more than 8,200 people in 2025 through a variety of events and initiatives including the annual Gemboree in Bancroft (more than 3,000 interactions) and the first annual Indigenous Expo in Bancroft last summer (871 interactions). She said the centre has seen approximately 18,000 people since opening in spring 2023.
The group is staffed by volunteers and receives grants to hire summer students. The Métis Nation of Ontario also sponsors a summer student for the centre.
Kavanaugh suggested council members look at the social media activity of the centre and provided a snapshot of its Facebook group activity. In the 28 days from Dec. 8, 2025 to Jan. 4, 2026, the centre had 17,429 views of its posts, a drop of 69 per cent from the previous 28-day period. In the prior 28-day period, the group follower count dropped by 211. The page would likely be much more active during the summer tourism season.
“This is our really low time,” Kavanaugh said, “Not our really busy time.”
The group is seeking $30,000 annual funding from the county to hire a full-time manager. They propose to pay the manager $20 per hour for a 30-hour work week over 10 months (40 weeks), equating to $24,000. Benefits add another $2,900 for a total of $26,900. The centre proposes to use the balance on marketing initiatives.
“Right now the marketing is limited because we just don’t have the money.”
Kavanaugh estimates the annual cost to operate the centre at just under $42,000.
Previously, the county provided $30,000 in annual funding to the Bancroft Chamber of Commerce to support tourism. The chamber stopped promoting tourism in 2017 and the county stopped the funding. The county has saved approximately $240,000 in tourism promotion costs for the northern region over the past eight years, she suggested.
“We are the only tourism centre in Hastings County,” Kavanaugh declared. “There is no other that I know of.”
Tweed has two locations that act as visitor information centres during the summer, as do other visitor information centres in the county. The North Hastings centre may be the only one that operates year-round. The centre also has an electronic tourism kiosk in Coe Hill.
Kavanaugh appealed to council on the basis that the northern region of the county is not getting “fair representation and fair bang for our buck.” She cited the example of the annual Gemboree in Bancroft which, she said, is the largest event in North Hastings and did not receive the same attention as a plowing match event in the southern part of the county.
Mayor Tony Fitzgerald reminded council and informed Kavanaugh that Hastings County is in the middle of a “structural review” of the economic development function at the county. The mayor said he had some input into starting the review, “because there’s some level of dissatisfaction of what we’re getting done for the budget … and it’s not addressing all areas of the county, so much.”
Coun. Keith Buck asked how the tourism centre impacts the entire county. Kavanaugh was quick to say it supports the county because it supports the economic development of the northern part of the county through tourism.
“Every couple of days, there will be somebody walk in there that says, ‘Look, I’m thinking of moving to the area. What can you tell me about the area?’
“The economic stability of the north directly impacts the economic stability of the whole of Hastings County,” said Kavanaugh. She echoed Fitzgerald’s point that there is a large disparity in funding for southern compared to northern initiatives.
Deputy Mayor Tammy Davis told council a group at the hospital in Bancroft has been getting help from the tourism centre as part of its physician recruitment initiative.
robert@thevalleygazette.ca
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