Oconto County is making a name for itself as a mecca for the trail rider and the walleye fishermen.
“We are a kind of place that a person who really wants to be in the outdoors — not in the gift shops — is going to go,” said Paul Ehrfurth, executive director of Oconto County Economic Development Corporation.
He said the bay of Green Bay is one of two premier destinations in the nation for walleye fishing, the other being Lake Erie. Oconto County has several boat launches with direct access to the bay.
Another attraction is the trails system, offering pristine, remote places to cross-country ski or ride horses, snowmobiles or ATVs.
Russ Kralovetz, owner of Waubee Lodge in Lakewood, said ATV and UTV trail riding have exploded.
“ATV traffic has probably doubled in the last three years to five years, and everyone you talk to seems to be buying them, and that’s great,” he said.
The snowmobile trails also continue to attract visitors, even with the scant snowfall in the 2014-15 winter.
“We had just enough snow to get through,” he said.
A 2014 trails summit determined the No. 1 issue regarding the county’s trails was signage, and this issue is being addressed by the Oconto County Trails Committee, an organization that developed as the result of the summit.
According to Ehrfurth, roughly $5,000 of new intersection signage and GPS signage will go up this summer on the trails.
“It’s just a way to improve something that’s already part of our top two tourist attractions,” he said.
Oconto County visitors spent nearly $80 million in 2014, up nearly 13 percent from 2011, according to statistics released by OCEDC.
Kralovetz said he has witnessed first-hand the positive trends in tourism in recent years.
“We’ve noticed the lodging has slowly increased over the last two, three years, and I think (visitors) are spending more,” he said.
The trend has led to a 10 percent jump in staffing at the lodge; six or seven employees were hired in each of the last couple years, he said.
Kralovetz said his situation mirrors what he heard from people at a governor’s summit in December.
For the first time in four years, every county in Wisconsin reported an increase in visitor spending in 2014, the Wisconsin Department of Tourism reported.
In Oconto County, figures indicate direct visitor spending has increased each of the last three years, with the biggest leap between 2012 and 2013, when spending jumped 7 percent, from $72 million to $77 million. In the same time period, total business sales attributed to tourism increased from $100 million to $107 million, placing Oconto County No. 2 in the state for percentage increase.
“We’re in a very good position. Some of these counties (in the region) don’t even come near to these numbers,” Ehrfurth said.
He attributed the increase to a revamped promotional mix, which included a mobile app and an enhanced website and Discovery Guide.
Oconto County ranks in the middle of the 72 counties in relation to tourism’s economic impact, Ehrfurth said. To grow tourism in the county, more lodging — beyond the 80 rooms now available — is needed, he said.
A feasibility study two years ago indicated a need for lodging in the Oconto Falls area, and although three hotel franchises expressed interest, nothing has been finalized. Once the economy completely recovers from the downturn that started almost 10 years ago, there may be a greater demand for lodging in northern Oconto County, Ehrfurth added.
The OCEDC website traffic shows the top visitors to the tourism website are from the Chicago area, so this area continues to be a target market, along with a new market: the Twin Cities.
Also joining the marketing mix will be a Discover Wisconsin episode. Filming is scheduled in 2015 and 2016, but an airing date has not been announced. Communities, business associations and the OCEDC are sharing the $36,000 cost for the episode.
In addition, OCEDC will partner with the Department of Tourism to complete a tourism assessment to determine strengths and weaknesses of central Oconto County. A northern Oconto County assessment already has been completed.
As an outgrowth of the assessments, each geographic area forms a task force. These groups might eventually be combined into a countywide tourism group, Ehrfurth said.
With the assistance of the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, OCEDC offered a customer service training seminar this year for tourism industry employees.
“We just wanted to … give people a better way to interact with customers,” Ehrfurth said.
Categories
