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Attractions lose money

The Shania Twain Centre has increasingly become a lightning rod for venting taxpayers who talk as if they want to blow up any city-owned facility that's not making a profit.

Let's get some facts straight here.

This is a facility that has been paid for, it's staffed by a couple of part-timers and one full-time person who fills in occasionally as the city's tourism co-ordinator. It's one of the few tourist attractions the city has and it runs with a net operating cost of about $110,000 a year.

That figure doesn't take into account any spinoffs for local hotels, restaurants, gas stations and any other services or gift shops that get a boost from tourists visiting here.

Yes, we're in tough economic times. And we all hate paying taxes. Some of us are concerned about holding onto jobs and keeping our homes.

But even in these anxious times, we need to maintain some sense and value for what adds quality of life within our cities.

Culture, heritage and recreation are often deemed expendable by those who have no interest in any of those things.

These are the same facilities used by economic development officials to entice industries to move here in the first place.

If municipal and government leaders agreed to strip away unprofitable attractions, we wouldn't have places like the Big Nickel Mine or Science North in Sudbury, or Hockey Heritage North in Kirkland Lake, or the Polar Bear Express.

Why? Because most tourist attractions lose money. So in tough economic times should we do away with all them? Anyone suggesting that we should needs to give their head a shake.

Timmins is not the only community to establish a museum or facility in honour of a homegrown celebrity.

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Kentwood, La., is home to the Britney Spears Museum; Springhill, N. S., has the Anne Murray Centre; Parry Sound has the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame; Indiana, Penn., has the Jimmy Stewart museum; Jamestown, N. Y., has the Lucille Ball Museum.

Are people flocking to these places?

No, but they provide a reason for people to stop. And in a city like Timmins that wants to further diversify its economy, that's not a bad thing.

The fact is, most tourist attractions are generally viewed by communities in the same context as a "loss leader" in retail.

Loss leaders are marketed products that are sold under cost with the intent of drawing people into the store. Once you get people in the door, there's a greater chance they'll buy other items that more than make up for the subsidy that attracted them in the first place.

Tourist attractions in most small or Northern communities operate on the same premise. They're not necessarily making a profit but they're bringing people in, they're providing people with a place to go and another little excuse to visit Timmins.

While those financial spinoffs don't show up in the city budget ledger, taxpayers need to realize those benefits are there, all the same.

Article ID# 1432489

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