Northwestern Ontario outfitters looking for customers closer to home

With the border between the United States and Canada still closed due to COVID-19 and a re-opening date uncertain, there is much uncertainty about when American tourists will be able to travel north again.

Because of that uncertainty some tourist outfitters in the northwest are turning their marketing efforts closer to home.

Eric Lund owns Esnagami Lodge, a fly-in destination located north of Nakina, Ont.

Lund said 70 per cent of his outfitting business is typically made up of American anglers. He said a year ago, when it started to look like the border would be closed due to the pandemic, the business began to switch some of the marketing efforts to attracting Ontario residents.

"It was really starting to become apparent that the border opening was going to be hit and miss," said Lund. "So we adjusted a bit of our marketing strategy, and we connected with some people."

"Basically, the first thing was to get the word out that we were going to open for the 2020 season. And then we just kind of started to build a bit of momentum from there," said Lund.

In 2020, Lund added, they did about 30 per cent of their usual business, but did have some new customers from Ontario.

Lund said he also attracted a group of fly anglers who have a podcast, and they helped get the word out as well.

He said in the past it was difficult to grow the Canadian side of the business, as many of the lodge's repeat customers are American.

"We're normally 90 per cent booked by the time we get to this time of year, January, February," said Lund. "So for many years, we haven't had any availability to build a Canadian clientele just because there was never any room. But we've had a year to kind of start to learn a bit more about how this goes."

Lund said when the border finally does reopen he expects the American tourists will be back in force. But he said it never hurts to diversify your business.

Lund said so far this summer, thanks to some of their marketing efforts it is shaping up to be a better year than 2020.

"We've already exceeded what we did last year in Canadian business, and we are anticipating a fairly decent summer this year," he said.

Kyle and Tracey Vescio own Kashabowie River Resort, on Lake Shebandowan, located about 100 km northwest of Thunder Bay.

Tracey Vescio said their clientele is 90 per cent American anglers, and that number climbs to 100 per cent in the month of June.

She said the impact of the pandemic on their business was buffered somewhat in 2020 by a group of essential workers that rented some cottages.

However, she said that it isn't business you can rely on.

Last fall, the couple decided to begin marketing closer to home. Vescio said initially, they started small.

"We were looking at doing something affordable," she said. "So I ordered 2,500 post cards and I gave 500 to my brother who owns a local restaurant. I said, 'can you put these in your takeout order'? And then we contacted a company to deliver the rest to two areas of Thunder Bay, one in Fort William, one in Port Arthur and just said, 'can you drop them off'?"

Vescio said since then, they have hired a marketing company in Thunder Bay to come up with an ad campaign aimed at residents of Thunder Bay and the region. She said they believe local folks who are not able to travel will be looking for a staycation destination.

Vescio doesn't believe local people will be coming to fish, even though Shebandowan is a well-known angling destination.

"Our US anglers spend the majority of their time in the boat," she said. "They come back for meals. They hang out, but they're not interested in the swimming or water activities or anything other than, you know, getting out with their buddies and fishing," said Vescio.

"Whereas Thunder Bay people you can go anywhere, right? You've got a boat. You already have your spot. So we're kind of marketing more toward families, couples, people looking to get away for a beach vacation."

Vescio said she has sat in on a large number of conference calls and knows how dire it is for many outfitters. She also said there is no real sense of when the border will re-open.

Vescio said one message that has come through is that it will be a while before it is business as usual.

"I don't think anybody is really optimistic that that the border is going to be open, especially not by June, I'm guessing maybe in the fall," she said.

"But for seasonal operators like us that really doesn't help out. Everything I'm hearing says travel will not be the same for at least the next five years.So we will not be back to 2019 numbers for at least five years. I know a lot of operators — sitting in on these calls — say if the border does not open this year, they will not survive."