Some thoughts on Clearview’s proposed Sustainable and Strategic Tourism Plan

Clearview Council has recently received a Clearview Sustainable and Strategic Tourism Plan undertaken by BC Hughes Inc, consultants who specialize in tourism development, management and marketing. This plan will be considered as part of Clearview’s strategic planning process and is intended to act as a roadmap for tourism planning for Clearview for the next five years.

Tourism is important to promote economic development and arguably Creemore is the main tourism asset in Clearview Township.  At the same time, tourism initiatives ideally should respect the needs of and be compatible with the desires of the community.

Some strengths identified in the study included the natural environment, farmers’ markets, the small halls festival and the charm of its small towns such as Creemore.  

Weaknesses identified included a lack of accommodation operators, a lack of short-term rentals and labour shortages.  According to the plan, the accommodation issue could be remedied by allowing more short-term rentals such as AirBnB, licensing and a municipal accommodation tax.   The full study is available on Clearview’s website.

The plan contains a number of recommendations to promote tourism, so we canvassed our membership to get some feedback on six of the proposed recommendations that we found interesting.  We received 62 responses in all.  For each of the six recommendations, we asked our respondents whether they support the recommendation, partially support the recommendation, do not support the recommendation or have no opinion.

Short term rentals, such as Air BnB and VRBO, are currently not allowed in Clearview except in licensed hotel and bed and breakfast establishments.  One of the Tourism Plan recommendations is “Regulate and permit short-term accommodations (STAs)”.  To paraphrase the plan, this would be achieved by developing a licensing program, considering a municipal accommodation tax, allowing Air BnB and VRBO rentals, and allowing unique accommodation types such as geodomes, yurts, pods, tiny homes, farm stays, etc, and educating locals on the economic returns associated with licencing and the accommodation tax.  STAs in some areas have had somewhat of a rocky history with complaints about noise, disruption, and more recently fire in illegal units in Montreal which resulted in several deaths.

We found somewhat surprisingly that 49% supported the recommendation and 31% partially supported it.  Those in favour of the recommendation noted the historical lack of places to stay in the area.  Those who expressed some concerns noted that STAs should not negatively affect the charm or atmosphere in areas that attract tourists.  Those against STAs felt they should be banned and that more owner occupied B&Bs should be encouraged.  Others were not enthusiastic about the idea of setting up unique accommodation types such as geodomes, yurts, pods, tiny homes, etc.  Others commented on the possibility that STAs may become disruptive to neighbours.  

A concern CARA’s Board has noted that STAs in some communities has reduced the supply of long term rental accommodation if owners take them out of the long term rental pool in favour of STAs.  The recent census confirmed what we all know.  For example, based on the 2021 census, Clearview has a low percentage of households who are renters (15%), which compares with 28% in all of Ontario.  Further, 52% of Creemore’s renters pay more than 30% of their income on shelter costs, compared with 28% for all Ontario.  The shortage of rental accommodations also creates problems for local businesses trying to find a reliable local workforce since they may not be able to afford to live in the community.

So if we allow STAs in Clearview and Creemore, it will be important to structure a policy that  does not  cut into the longer term supply of rental accommodation which is already in very short supply.  If we allow them at all, a thoughtful and balanced approach will be required.