Grab your camera and beachwear because it’s time to go on holiday in the sunny… Brampton?
It probably isn’t at the top of anyone’s travel wishlist right now, but the city northwest of Toronto is looking to make a name for itself on the destination map by releasing a comprehensive new tourism strategy that it hopes will actually draw visitors to the vast suburban suburb.
The much-desiredly named Brampton Tourism Strategy is the city’s first council-approved tourism development plan, a five-year vision to “guide the development of Brampton as an emerging destination and cultural hub.”
I think they will need more than five years.
The city of Brampton (and I’m going to go ahead and say that’s an overused use of the word “city”) has released a 30-second montage of everything Brampton has to offer, and the very first shot shows downtown Bramalea, a suburban mall. shopping center.
This does not bode well.
Just released | City unveils new travel brand Brampton during Tourism Week
Read more: https://t.co/3Kp0Ctp9TD@Exp_Brampton pic.twitter.com/ry3fZMkgQp
— City of Brampton (@CityBrampton) June 2, 2022
Then we have a clip of a pub-style hamburger (smashed, obviously better) served in a restaurant that looks like a corporate chain.
They also have the occasional boxing match, a small regional art gallery, rock climbing, ax throwing, a virtual reality arcade, and other things that you probably don’t need to travel outside of your hometown to experience.
It’s like a more polished version of the comedic Cleveland travel ad that went viral in the late 2000s, and not unlike the intro from the nightmarish throwback to adult swimming “Tom Goes to the Mayor.”
For what it’s worth, Brampton is indeed an attractive place for new Canadians to settle, and as such, many of them visit their families from overseas.
That same multiculturalism makes Brampton arguably one of the best food destinations in Ontario, something the city hopes to further develop, with food tourism being one of the four growth areas outlined in the tourism plan.
Brampton is also committed to supporting its arts and culture, special events and attractions, and sports tourism scenes, which have been identified as having the greatest potential to become generators of the visitor economy.
And some of the infrastructure needed to boost tourism already exists: downtown Brampton in Queen and Main is about five miles from Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Infrastructure is in fact one of the four key priority areas identified as needed to support growth as a tourism destination, along with pride of place promotion, marketing and communications, and the use of tourism development streams.
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