Bannikin created a template for an annual implementation tracker to be maintained by Town staff to monitor the progress of initiatives over time, and support reporting progress back to Council and the community. Progress of initiatives is being updated on this platform, in addition to annual reports and operational updates to Council.

The Mayor’s Economic Development Roundtable hosted on June 11, 2026 focused on updates on the implementation progress of the Tourism Master Plan, establishment of Tourism Collingwood, and the MAT program to date, and seek feedback from key stakeholders on a number of tourism topics. Further information on the roundtable agenda and minutes can be found here. 

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Council enacted and passed By-Law 2024-085 on December 16, 2024 to establish a Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT). Of the MAT revenue collected, at least 50% of revenues are to be transferred to Tourism Collingwood to support their mandate, while the remaining municipal portion of the MAT revenues are primarily intended to be used to support the tourism industry, including the implementation of the initiatives identified in the Tourism Master Plan.

The Town also successfully secured over $50,000 in grant funding from Regional Tourism Organization 7 and Tourism Simcoe County to support the implementation of the Tourism Master Plan in 2025 and 2026.

As part of implementing the Communications Plan developed by Bannikin, staff are preparing to launch a monthly Tourism Newsletter in Q4 2026. To stay on top of all things tourism, subscribe here.

Bannikin undertook research using Environics Analytics (EA) through Tourism Simcoe County and Regional Tourism Organization 7 (RTO7) to summarize and identify trends in visitation to Collingwood. The Collingwood Visitor Insights Summary Report provides information on how many people are visiting and from where, as well as profiles of who is visiting at above average rates and identify Collingwood’s target groups for visitation. The intent of identifying target groups is to provide insights into likely activity preferences, type of media consumed (i.e. print, television, radio, etc.) and amount of media consumed (i.e. minutes per day, hours per week, etc.), social network preferences (i.e. Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn), and lifestyle characteristics to inform how the Town and tourism stakeholders can strategically approach tourism promotion, marketing, and product development decisions.

Bannikin undertook baseline research on behalf of the Town in 2025 including attending the 2025 Ontario Tourism Summit and researching and reviewing relevant publications and other key data sources. This information has been consolidated into a Tourism Research Initiative Report and includes recommendations to guide sharing knowledge and resources with key audiences and a system and process for staff to stay informed.

In 2026 staff attended the annual Tourism Mini Conference hosted annually since 2021 by the Town operated South Georgian Bay Small Business Enterprise Centre, and Community Futures South Georgian Bay. The Tourism Mini Conference also furthers TMP Initiatives B2.4: collaborate with others to deliver tourism-specific training and supports to industry, and B2.5: host an annual networking event to foster collaboration.

Using the findings of initiatives B1.1: Asset Inventory, B1.2: Market Research, and B1.3: Tourism Research, specifically trends, Bannikin, with the support of Town staff, identified six high-potential tourism products for investment consideration under the Tourism Product Opportunity Profiles. Each of the six (6) opportunity profiles identify the target group for the product, existing assets to leverage, required assets, potential leads or co-creators, and anticipated steps and costs to developing the product. It is noted that some of these products exist in some form within the community today, including self-guided heritage walking tours, guided tours through the Museum, and Cycle Simcoe and Ontario by Bike cycling routes connected to Collingwood.  However, there are opportunities to enhance these offerings through modest investment and/or promotion rather than creating new products.

As part of the 2025 Work Plan, Bannikin delivered a Tourism Training and Supports Plan which provides proposed training topics, objectives, and rationale, as well as a listing of existing organizations and training resources. The purpose of this initiative is to avoid the duplication of effort across organizations, while increasing the industry capacity to meet the needs of visitors.

Accessibility Basics and Marketing was identified as a training topic, noting that the Market Readiness Review conducted through initiative B1.1 showed that 17 of 25 businesses sampled do not mention accessibility in their online content, representing a gap in visitor planning resources. Additionally, initiative B3.1 calls for the creation of an accessibility toolkit. In collaboration with the Town’s Accessibility Coordinator, the Accessibility Advisory Committee, and Breaking Down Barriers, a registered charity and Independent Living Resource Centre located in Collingwood, staff are planning a training workshop in Q4 2026 to provide an overview of what accessibility is, how accessibility information impacts visitor’s decision making, and provide a checklist of tangible low-resource high-impact interventions to improve the accessibility of local destinations.

To stay informed about upcoming training opportunities, subscribe to our newsletter here.