Robert C. O’Dell,Robert C., O’Dell Management, Inc.

The Niagara city region has one of the world’s greatest natural assets — Niagara Falls — in one of the world’s fastest growing economic sectors — tourism. The opportunities for fruitful investment and productive cooperation in this area are enormous. We hope that some of our recent experiences on the Ontario side might be useful in helping us create a model for working together in “rethinking” our bi-national region.

Ontario efforts to develop the tourism industry have been part of a larger effort by the Provincial government toward economic renewal in the Niagara Region. In 1995 the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Tourism appointed the Niagara Economic Tourism Corporation — NET Corp. — to be the facilitating organization in a process of strategic planning for that renewal. In 1998, NET Corp. published the results of that process in “Niagara Renewed: An Economic Framework for the Future.”

Tourism was only one element in that regional strategy. The framework also included four other priority areas for future investment. These were defined by the intersection of regional assets and resources with high-growth potential industries:

1. Telecommunications and call centers, especially in relation to data processing and distance learning;

2. High-technology manufacturing, focused on re-engineering of existing industries and making use of telecommunications in robotics;

3. Agriculture,especially including existing strengths in cut flowers, wine, tender fruit and horticulture, and,

4. Adult lifestyle communities,taking advantage of regional assets such as the spectacular setting, a large and varied array of things to do, and easy access to U.S. and Canadian urban centers.

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