Greetings, fellow Scarborough residents.
Huh? Tourism … in Scarborough? Yup. Let me explain.
Most cities with an international profile have a vibrant tourism industry. That’s certainly true of Toronto. In fact, Destination Toronto estimates that 9 million visitors spent $8.8 billion in Toronto in 2024. Tourism is an important economic driver and many jobs depend on it.
Now, much of that happens downtown at our high profile attractions (CN Tower, Ripley’s Aquarium, museums, art gallery), festivals (TIFF, the CNE, Luminato, Pride, and others) and major conferences at the Convention Centre. There’s no denying the gravitational pull of downtown and its appeal to tourists. It’s the epicentre of Toronto’s tourism industry.
How can we bring more of this to Scarborough?
Destination Toronto, Toronto’s tourism marketing agency, is now preparing a ten year strategic plan to promote tourism in the GTA. SCRO is part of a group of local organizations which is contributing to this, bringing a Scarborough perspective to the planning process.
Like all strategic plans, the objective is to cultivate what we do well and addresses deficiencies that hold us back.
So, what do we do well? Scarborough may not offer the high glitter attractions that we have downtown, but we have niche market opportunities.
Think of our natural environment and facilities related to this. The Toronto Zoo. Rouge Park. The Scarborough Bluffs and the waterfront trail. The Meadoway. Scarborough is blessed with much green space, which can be thematic for a Scarborough-focused tourism marketing plan.
We have the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, which hosts the Scarborough Shooting Stars and hosts basketball, volleyball, and swimming tournaments that draw participants from across the country.
How about Scarborough Town Centre? It has a tourism draw too, albeit more local. Oxford Properties, which owns STC, tracks this.
Then there’s our ethnic-focused tourism.
Tamil Fest. Every August, Scarborough hosts what has become the largest Tamil street festival outside of the Indian subcontinent. Last year, Tamil Fest attracted 250,000 visitors! SCRO congratulates the Canadian Tamil Congress for creating this hugely popular festival with a local and international following.
Taste of Lawrence. The 20th annual street festival is also expected to attract 250,000 visitors. The Wexford Heights BIA has done a terrific job incubating this and celebrating our multicultural mosaic in southwest Scarborough.
I could go on. Our international reputation as a haven for foodies. Scarborough’s arts scene. The Bomb Girls.
So we have opportunities. But there are limitations which hold us back.
Hotels. We need more. Centennial College has an event centre near hotels, which helps. And U of T Scarborough has an event centre and summertime capacity in its residences near the Pan Am Sports Centre, so there are collaboration opportunities. But the lack of hotel space limits our potential to attract recreational visitors and business conferences.
Congestion and poor public transit. Need I say more?
Scarborough branding. We’re all familiar with the need to rebrand Scarborough as a vibrant and inviting place. That’s partly why SCRO was formed in the first place; to dispel those tiresome stereotypes and install a more positive community identity. That’s happening, slowly. We need to make sure our decision-makers and thought leaders get the message too.
In other news …
Share your ideas for
Revitalizing our Scarborough Civic Centre
In March, I wrote about the need to revitalize our iconic Scarborough Civic Centre, which is an important symbol of Scarborough’s proud identity but has become a faded beauty of late that could use some sprucing up and a renewed sense of purpose.
The City of Toronto is now conducting a study about how to more effectively use the interior public-facing areas of its six civic centres, including ours, called the Civic Centres Opportunities Study.
The City has posted an online survey for public input. You can access the survey here.
The survey is open until July 14. It’s a mix of pre-set questions but also provides opportunities for free-format comments.
Please take a few minutes and provide your ideas about how we can revitalize this important part of Scarborough’s public infrastructure and of Scarborough’s twentieth century heritage.
Larry Whatmore
President
Scarborough Community Renewal Organization
Larry.Whatmore@rogers.com
(416) 562-2101
