A recent look at the availability of accomodation in our area has turned up some interesting results. (See page 7.)
Instead of confirming the common hysteria that there’s no place for the hordes who buy our bread to stay, it says there are plenty of beds going unmessed. They might require some research and a short drive but they’re here. Lately there seems to be a trend for folks to whine that there’s no place to stay and give up altogether.
When Monty Rolston stepped down as chairman of the jazz festival in October, the press release from the Pender Harbour Music Society declared he did so because "the loss of accomodations and facilities for tourists has eliminated the purpose and need for the Festival."
Huh? What about every local who has ever enjoyed sitting in the September sun listening to live music or bar owner who happily poured glasses of chardonnay all weekend long?
What’s worse, this press release was distributed to media so everyone could understand that Pender Harbour is a nice place to visit but you can’t stay overnight here.
What else are people to believe? The accommodation providers themselves are a relatively quiet lot who have done a poor job of reversing this attitude. Though most have an internet presence, it seems there’s a feeling that marketing efforts might be wasted on locals and it shows.
I bet if you ask most people about where a good place to stay might be on January 9, for instance, they might have a hard time telling you who’s open in the winter. According to the study, 23 out of 25 of our resorts and B & Bs are open year-round. Unfortunately, you told your rellies to try Pebbles and who could blame you? It seems we’ve been trying to solve the problem of not having enough beds by eroding the demand itself.
It’s a fact that our area needs more accomodation but we should never lose faith that wherever there’s an opportunity, some savvy investor will rush in to capitalize on it. Adopting the defeatist attitude that Pender Harbour can’t accommodate visitors is hurtful to local business in the long-term and it just isn’t true.
Besides, Monty just wanted to play golf.
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