THUNDER BAY – For years, the City of Thunder Bay’s tourism department has debated whether or not to stop publishing its annual visitor’s guide.
The message from tourist outfitters, sponsors and businesses looking to recruit people to move to the city for work has been loud and clear, said tourism manager Paul Pepe.
They see the annual magazine as a vital tool to promote the city and let potential visitors and residents know what Thunder Bay and the surrounding area have to offer.
“Every year we do wrestle with it. It’s very expensive to put out a guide and to distribute it. There’s a lot of channels out there competing for advertisers’ dollars. Every year we talk about downsizing the guide or getting rid of it all together and our partners tell us, ‘No, keep it,’” Pepe said.
“The fact of the matter is, almost all 60,000 print copies get into people’s hands. We distribute them. They are in demand by recruiters – the mining companies, government agencies. Utility companies are getting boxes of our guides and mailing them out for people to move to Thunder Bay.”
Pepe said prior to the pandemic, Tourism Thunder Bay estimated the economic impact of tourism to be worth more than $125 million annually - and post-pandemic the city is starting to approach those numbers again, with room to grow with the anticipated return of more American tourists.
Having a hands-on tourist guide is particularly helpful to those who might not have visited Thunder Bay before, Pepe said.
“In this digital age, people still love the tactile-ness of print. They like something in their hands. When you know what you’re looking for, the web is easy to search. You just search what you’re looking for.
"But when somebody arrives and they don’t really know much about the city, they don’t really know what they’re looking for. Having something in their hands, right in front of them is so important to help them scroll through and see things,” Pepe said.
Mayor Ken Boshcoff said tourism is one of Thunder Bay’s most valuable industries.
“And as every citizen begins to know more about our community, and indeed this magazine helps educate people, we all become ambassadors. So it’s vital,” the mayor said. “We have a lot to be proud of and to brag about.”
This year’s edition, titled Thunder Bay Experience, is 64 pages and contains listings, maps and articles on a wide variety of subjects, including the growth of cycling in the area to outdoor adventures that await.
It also boasts an Indigenous-themed cover created by artists Shelby Gagnon and Lak Williams, an ode to the elements that make Thunder Bay special.
“We do murals, so even to think about the pages as a long mural was a fun thing to think about, but we really wanted to represent the sacred sites around this land and on this land,” Gagnon said.
Nanabijou and Anemki Wajiw, also known as the Sleeping Giant and Mount McKay, feature prominently on the front and back covers.
“We really wanted to also encompass the power and the energy that you feel when you’re looking at the water and the abundance we have here with water, as well as incorporating medicines and food and how we feel about being on this land."
The Thunder Bay Experience magazine is available at the Terry Fox Visitor’s Centre, local hotels, the airport and visitor’s centres throughout Ontario, Manitoba and Minnesota. It’s also available online at www.visitthunderbay.com.
