Tourism website needs input on Northwestern Ont. attractions

Tourism Thunder Bay wants residents to nominate landmarks and sites of interest for a new website featuring the region.

The site, hosted by National Geographic, will spotlight northwestern Ontario and northeastern Minnesota.

Spokesperson John Cameron said nominations from the community can be for attractions, parks, long-running events, and activities.

“I think it's important that it comes from the people — the voices that know and want to promote our product in our region.”

Tourism Thunder Bay is one of the groups involved with the Heart of the Continent Partnership that involves tourism groups in northwestern Ontario and Minnesota.

Nominations for the website will be vetted by the partnership, as well as National Geographic.

“It`s about storytelling and making it compelling for that visitor to come and see that tourist attraction or property,” Cameron said.

The vetting process will involve “handpicking ones that we think are iconic visitor experiences in our region, so we want to get those ones up there first."

Currently the site has a list of nominations that may or may not be included on the site when it officially launches in the fall or winter.

“Everything that's up there is up for review and editing, so what you see today, might be different when we launch the website,” Cameron said.

What is up there, however, is hoped to inspire folks to nominate other things.

Cameron said nominations he would like to see include Fort William Historical Park, as well as Sleeping Giant and Kakabeka Falls.

National Geographic hosts other Geo-tourism Map Guide sites including one for the U.S. Gulf Coast States, and one for Alberta, B.C., Montana, and Newfoundland, which are known as the Crown of the Continent.  The northwestern Ontario and northeast Minnesota site would be called the “Heart of the Continent.”