Vacation vs. Staycation

Friday, 8 August 2014 05:49

Woodstock residents are spending the most time looking for events to do in Oxford County.

OXFORD COUNTY - It appears more people are looking to Oxford County as their stay-cation destination.

Tourism Specialist Meredith Maywood says hits on the Tourism website are up this year and interest in their travel brochures has also grown.

Maywood says they have had a great response since they started using social media.

"We now have a Pinterest page which provides people a way to visually go and see some of the things that are available to do. We have new events going up all the time (to the website), and we are getting a lot of dialogue with people as well. We are getting a steady and loyal set of followers through social media as well such as Facebook."

"Big features that we have in this area is our Culinary Tourism because we are rural, we are agriculture, we are food. We have quite a few people interested in for instance, the Oxford County Cheese Trail. We have a culinary explorer tool on our website as well where people can have their mobile phone out and go around and find the different places to shop local."

Maywood says with Gunn's Hill Artisan Cheese winning a national award and Jakeman's Maple Products being shown on the Amazing Race Canada, it has made people want to come to the area and try the products those and other award winning companies produce.

She says traffic to the Tourism website has really increased from this time last year.

"What we are seeing is we have got more people wanting to come and look at the area. People are visiting the site and spending more time searching for things to see and do and what I'm seeing even locally is, more of the people who fall under the umbrella of Woodstock, they are actually spending a longer time on the website then some of the other visitors from other areas."

Maywood says they are getting feedback from neighbouring day tripping communities and the Greater Toronto Area about an increased interest in what the County has to offer as well.

The Oxford Tourism is putting rotating images on the front page to help people navigate through their site complete with event schedules and maps.

Maywood says parades and fireworks are among the most popular events.