The effort to attract tourists to Ontario's Southwest is starting to pay off according to the executive director of the regional tourist organization.
Jim Hudson of the Southwest Ontario Tourism Corporation told a recent conference in Chatham the cooperative approach that tourism organizations are taking is working well.
"When you start working as a team you can achieve much greater results and that's what we are seeing and it doesn't matter whether it is tourism related to our waterfront or related to our craft beers, our wineries, our culinary, we are really making great strides," he says noting that cycling and motorcycle tours have also been picking up.
Hudson believes more improvement is also possible.
"People who are a little tired of Niagara, they've been there and done that ten times, maybe they've been to Prince Edward County once or twice, they are looking for the new upcoming area and this is it," he says.
He says the lower Canadian dollar is coming as a pleasant surprise to American visitors and tourist groups can build on that by letting them know they can stay longer without spending more.