The County of Prince Edward will undertake a business retention and expansion (BR+E) survey with the focus of the survey being in tourism and hospitality.

The survey is to better understand how best to foster business development, investment and job retention in the tourism and hospitality sector.

“Tourism remains our community’s largest employer and the fastest growing sector,” Mayor Steve Ferguson said. “As a Council, we’ve made it a priority to balance the needs of the tourism and hospitality sector with the needs of residents, mitigating the impact of tourism on residents. The BR+E survey is a great opportunity to hear directly from people about the issues and factors that could impact their businesses.”

A program which is supported by the Ontario government, BR+E allows the municipality to collect and analyze industry-specific information. The research findings will inform a set of goals and an action plan to achieve them.

Interviews and surveys will be conducted by staff in the Community Development Department over the next several weeks with people across the sector. Questions around asset and infrastructure development, marketing, trends and barriers to growth will be asked. A report is to follow later in the year.

“Meeting with a wide variety of people will provide insight into day-to-day operations,” said Todd Davis, Acting Director of Community Development and Strategic Initiatives.” It will also shed light on possible areas where investments or policy changes may be needed.”

As part of the BR+E program, the municipality has studied other sectors including the manufacturing and construction sectors in 2016, which can be found here www.thecounty.ca/media/community-development-department-images/2016-Manufacturing—Construction-Sectors-Business-Retention-and-Expansion-BR-E-Study-Report.pdf, the professional services and health-care sectors in 2017, which can be found here www.thecounty.ca/media/pe-county/documents/special-projects/2017-Professional-Service-Sectors-Business-Retention-and-Expansion-BR-E-Study-Report2.pdf, and the arts, entertainment and recreation sectors in 2018 which can be found here www.thecounty.ca/media/2018-BRE_Arts_Entertainment_Recreation_Final.pdf

For other industry updates follow The County’s industry Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/groups/350400598854192/, their Instagram account here https://www.instagram.com/pec_tourism/, or sign up for their monthly e-newsletter here (scroll to bottom of page) www.visitpec.ca/contact-us.