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Getting our share, Pt. 2
Last week we bemoaned the fact that despite a wealth of attractions, events and excellent reasons for tourists to flock to Uxbridge from near and far, it’s just not happening. We cited inadequate promotion as the chief cause for that lost economic opportunity, but we also mentioned a few negative factors that might dissuade visitors, if they do come, from returning.
Chief among those factors, and perhaps a reason why governments, businesses or individuals are reluctant to promote Uxbridge too heavily as a destination, is our lack of accommodation. Apart from a few scattered bed and breakfasts, less than a handful of them in Uxbridge town, there is simply no place for a visitor (unless she’s lucky enough to have friends or family in town) to stay overnight. No hotel, no motel, not even an RV park or campground (apart from Grangeways, which is mostly dedicated to long-term renters).
It’s hard to overstate how important this is in terms of keeping down our tourist numbers. Our recent attendance at the CNE has undoubtedly garnered many more day trippers, dropping up from the Smoke for lunch, a stroll down Brock Street, and perhaps a brief visit to the Leaskdale Manse, the Foster Memorial or the Historical Centre. But who is going to include Uxbridge on his family’s itinerary when at the end of a day at the Steam Show or the Highland Games, he has to move on to another town to find a bed?
Uxbridge wasn’t always this way (we used to be known for the quality, and quantity, of our inns), and it’s hard to figure out why hotelkeepers, either large chains or independent small businessfolk, have abandoned us, but it’s been the situation for at least a couple of decades, and it’s applying a significant brake to any kind of economic progress we might be able to make. The Oak Ridges Moraine and Greenbelt might be impeding our residential growth, but they shouldn’t be a hindrance, in fact quite the opposite, to bringing tourists here.
The new Township Council hasn’t laid out a strategic plan for what it hopes to accomplish during its four years (or at least, not that they’ve shown us), but wouldn’t it be nice if a hotel was up and running by 2014? There are a couple of excellent possibilities for location. Downtown is out because of a lack of parking, but the Williamson site on Toronto Street South (recently abandoned by that exciting condo development), or the Kennedy House property to the north of town, both have a lot of potential as the base for a Howard Johnson’s. Heck, even a Motel Six.
We’ve heard rumblings of a “hotel search committee” being struck by the Chamber or the Township, even a rumour that a hostelry of some sort was to be included in the Brock Street East development now sitting idle below Barton Farms, but certainly nothing concrete has ever been announced. If such a committee exists, it needs to be reinvigorated immediately. Without tourism, Uxbridge’s economy faces an uncertain future. And without a hotel, our tourist industry can only go so far. 2014 is coming up very, very fast.
