2012... WOW!!! (Continued)

It seems like only a few months ago that Judi and I were planning our 2011 itinerary and now it’s 2012. WOW! This is a continuation of last weeks article, a review of Ontario Visited in 2011.

• Also during the past year, we have started two new blogs. THE INSIDE SCOOP was started by Judi and contains a number of interesting interviews. Her first interview with Melanie Fernandez of the Toronto Harbourfront Centre started it off. Judi appreciated all the information provided by Melanie. Her interview with Terry Grant, AKA The Mantracker, was very exciting, especially when he gave her a ‘BIG’ hug (sigh). And her interview with Ontario’s Minister of Tourism and Culture, Michael Chan, gave us insight into Ontario’s tourism future. The second Blog that was started this year was “Ontario Tales”. This blog tells stories about Canadians who have made Ontario a fascinating place to live! The current story is about William Leonard Hunt, better known as The Great Farini. The story is based on Canadian author, Shane Peacock's book, "The Great Farini, the High-Wire Life of William Hunt". Shane is in the process of completing his children's mystery series of The Boy Sherlock Homes.
• In June, we changed the name and the look of our monthly newsletter (now THE INSIDER). We wanted to reflect the changes and additions to our website group. At the same time we changed the “look” of the front pages of all our websites. We wanted to make the websites easier to use and access information.
• All of the above changes have helped make this the most successful year ever. As we enter our sixth year of promoting Ontario festivals and events, the number of event web visitors to our websites has increased from 160,000 last year to over 340,000 this year. The month of October saw the most event web visitors at 43,799. What is most rewarding is that we see substantial increases in visitors each month. Our overall target for 2012 is to attract over 500,000 event web visitors. A tall order, I know, but one that I believe is attainable!

The future looks bright and very busy! As most of you know, 2012 is the War of 1812 Bicentennial. Judi and I are looking forward to becoming very involved in the promotion of all of the Bicentennial activities and events. It should prove to be an interesting and fun-filled year!