The information adds hard data to an ongoing debate surrounding how much emphasis the city should put on tourism – and festivals in particular – in its economic development strategy, which some feel has traditionally focused on supporting the tech industry.
Although Ottawa Festivals said tourism was not the main focus of its research, the organization’s executive director Barbara Stacey noted tourists are a part of every festival, whether they had come to town specifically for that reason, or not.
“It really adds to the city and makes it a great place,” she added.
Ottawa Festivals surveyed 2,703 visitors at 13 festivals that ran in 2010, ranging from marquee events such as the Ottawa International Animation Festival and the Canadian Tulip Festival, to smaller events such as the Canada Dance Festival.
Almost 29 per cent of surveyed attendees were visitors living in other parts of Ontario and Canada, or who lived abroad. Sixty-eight per cent were local to Ottawa or Gatineau. The balance did not disclose their location.
Ottawa Festivals’ survey is part of a five-year project to look at the impact of local events, festivals and fairs. Last year’s survey focused on the social impact, with the economic impact to be explored in 2011-12 and the environmental impact in 2013-14.
It comes just weeks after Erin Kelly, executive director of the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, said the city is not placing enough emphasis on tourism as an economic generator.
“Tourism is one of our biggest industries, but the city doesn’t invest in it at all,” Ms. Kelly said in an April interview. She noted funding should be directed to the best-performing five or 10 festivals, instead of to all of the approximately 40 the city now supports.
As for funding, Ms. Stacey said Ottawa Festivals would always like more money from the city. She added she was discouraged that the federal government stopped its Marquee Tourism funding, which eliminated the free Bluesfest performances in the ByWard Market that ran in 2009 and 2010, for example.
That said, she noted Ottawa Festivals was encouraged that Celebrate Ontario funding increased in Ottawa as a whole, to $2 million in 2011 from $1.5 million last year.
This was particularly true for the Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival, which received a record $75,000 grant this year, although Celebrate Ontario has supported it since 2006.
The grant was established to support tourism; in this case, it helped bring information about the racing event to Upstate New York, Quebec, Montreal, and the Greater Toronto Area.
“I think (festivals) are an excellent marketing tool; we have attained a reputation across North America as being a festival city,” said John Brooman, the dragon boat festival’s executive director.
The Canadian Tulip Festival, which reported that it creates an economic impact of $40 million to $60 million annually, said its international success comes mainly due to partnerships with Ottawa Tourism and Tourism Outaouais, which can spread the word on its behalf.
“It shows that the strategy is working, and certainly we’re going to continue developing the relationships and fostering that as we go into our 60th anniversary next year,” said Brent Gorman, the event’s marketing and media manager.
Although the Ottawa Folk Festival was not included in the 13 surveys shared with OBJ, Penny Bertrand, the event’s vice-president, said its own numbers have shown that about 10 per cent of visitors come from outside Ottawa-Gatineau.
Last November, in the same year rain drove down the festival’s attendance, Bluesfest management offered money to help it pay outstanding debts and shortly afterwards, Bluesfest executive director Mark Monahan took on the responsibility of booking the folk festival’s acts.
“The relationship with Bluesfest is allowing us to contribute not only the financial resources, but also the expertise in terms of marketing and broader links, so we’re pretty excited about that,” Ms. Bertrand said.
“Tourism is important (to us) for a couple of reasons – one, obviously, to expand our audience and also, we feel that goes to the bottom line.”
The Ottawa Festivals survey also tracked accommodations for 10 of the 13 festivals surveyed.
Of those polled, about 48 per cent stayed in paid accommodations such as a hotel, 34 per cent remained with friends and family and the rest did not disclose.
