Tourism Ambassador Programs
Become an tourism ambassador for Orillia & Lake Country! A visitor’s first point of contact leaves a lasting impression – ensure your business is visitor-ready with FREE online training from the City of Orillia and Township of Oro-Medonte. This training gives front-line staff the tools and knowledge to assist and inform visitors about the region.
Business incentives are available for these training modules.
Business Resources
Learn more about how Orillia & Lake Country Tourism and our partners can help your business succeed.
Download PDFs:
Orillia & Lake Country Tourism is a Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) for the region encompassing the municipality of Orillia, Rama First Nation, and the townships of Severn and Oro-Medonte. Working closely with our municipal and community partners, OLC focusses on product development and executing a wide variety of marketing initiatives to help promote the region and enhance the visitor experience. All tourism-related businesses in the region are eligible for a free listing on www.orillialakecountry.ca as well as the opportunity to share events on our events calendar.
Additional Opportunities for OLC Members:
• Annual Visitor Guide advertising opportunities
• Participation in Tap Into Maple
• Website advertising
• Digital Marketing Support
• Co-operative Photo & Digital Marketing Programs
• Web Event Listings
Contact: info@orillialakecountry.ca
Regional Tourism Organization 7 (RTO7) partners with tourism businesses and organizations to provide many programs (both assistance and funding) including video/image development, digital and social media advertising, storytelling, as well as assistance with developing small scale tourism experiences, workforce recruiting and retention and free professional development opportunities for tourism staff. In addition, RTO7 is a partner in the T3 Accelerator, which provides tourism business owners/managers with targeted coaching support in a variety of areas including marketing, communications, finances, HR, experience development, etc.
Additional RTO 7 Partner Resources:
• Partnership Program
• BruceGreySimcoe Free Training
• Experience Development 101
• Implementation Programs
Website: rto7.ca Contact: info@rto7.ca
Tourism Simcoe County works with its sixteen member municipalities, the cities of Barrie and Orillia, the Province of Ontario and varied tourism organizations and stakeholders to develop and market Simcoe County as the visitor destination of choice. TSC works directly with its industry partners to create visitor experiences and connect stakeholders to create unique experiences. TSC provides advertising opportunities for its partners through multi-media campaigns and Simcoe County tourism businesses are promoted on the Tourism Simcoe County website and on social media channels TSC continues to evolve and expand its suite of marketing collateral in order to connect to its consumers.
Tourism Simcoe County Partner Resources:
• Tourism Culture & Sport Enhancement Fund for non-profits
• COVID-19 Resources
• Guide Distribution Program
• Agritourism Toolkit
• Business Directory
• Service Training
Website: experience.simcoe.ca/resources Contact: tourism@simcoe.ca
The Orillia Area Community Development Corp. (CDC) will help your business start, grow and succeed! The CDC provides counselling, training & funding to local businesses to support job creation, growth and innovation. Working with many community partners on various community economic development projects to build an economy in Orillia & Lake Country that is prosperous, growing and sustainable. Our business communities in the City of Orillia, Townships of Oro-Medonte, Ramara, Severn, and the Chippewas of Rama First Nation all benefit from our diverse range of services.
The Orillia and Area Community Development Corporation offers a wide variety of programs and services supporting community economic development and small business growth including:
• Loans for small businesses and social enterprises
• Business counselling services
• Access to community and business information
• Access to BizLink – a program that confidentially connects and supports business buyers & sellers
• Business training and workshops
• Youth wage subsidies & employment
Connect with your municipalities, Chambers of Commerce and BIAs
City of Orillia
orillia.ca
Orillia District Chamber of Commerce
orillia.com
Downtown Orillia Management Board
downtownorillia.ca
Township of Oro-Medonte
oro-medonte.ca
Oro-Medonte Chamber of Commerce & Tourism
oromedontecc.com
Township of Ramara
ramara.ca
Ramara Chamber of Commerce
ramarachamber.com
Lagoon City Life
lagooncitylife.com
Chippewas of Rama First Nation
ramafirstnation.ca
Township of Severn
severn.ca
Village of Coldwater
coldwatervillage.ca
Have any questions? Reach out for support!
info@orillialakecountry.ca 1-866-329-5959
Operations Implementation Program
The Operations Implementation Program (OIP) is designed to assist tourism stakeholders in Orillia and Lake Country (Orillia, Township of Oro-Medonte, Township of Severn and Rama First Nation) with a social media advertising campaign to promote their operation.
Orillia and Lake Country Tourism (OLC), with the support of Regional Tourism Organization 7 (RTO 7) will match your $1,000 investment in operational expenses with a $1,000 (plus HST and fees) social media advertising campaign. Examples of eligible operational expenses that can be used to leverage marketing funds include property taxes, mortgage costs, insurance, inventory purchases, etc. You must be able to demonstrate these expenditures by providing a copy of the receipt/invoice and proof of payment (e.g. cancelled cheque or e-transfer confirmation) with the submission of your final report. Aside from the operational expenditures invested, there is no cost to the operator. Orillia and Lake Country Tourism will cover the cost of the media spend, social media agency fees, and HST.
Stakeholders interested in the Operations Implementation Program will be required to demonstrate the following:
• You have an active Facebook PAGE and are actively engaged on the platform (i.e. post at a regular frequency and respond to comments within 24 hours).
• In order to launch the campaign, you will need to allow The Aber Group to act as an advertiser on your page. In the new Pages experience on Facebook, only individuals with “full control”(not partial) will be able to accept or assign task access.
• You must have current collateral (produced in the last 3 years); high-resolution images (Min 1MB) and/or 1-3 videos (60 seconds or less) that can be used in a social media campaign. See Resource Guide for best practices.
Your website is mobile friendly and must be up to date, reflecting your current offerings, hours of operation, and contact information.
Partners will need to have a landing page consistent with what is portrayed in the video/imagery (i.e. a campaign promoting ice fishing should have a related video and direct traffic to an ice fishing landing page or at minimum, a page outlining a variety of winter activities, of which ice fishing is one).
Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until January 31, 2025 or until the program is fully subscribed.
Please review the Operations Implementation Program Guidelines below BEFORE starting your application.
Membership at OLC
Orillia and Lake Country Tourism is a non-profit Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) that is funded by Casino Rama and the Municipalities of Orillia, Oro-Medonte, Rama, and Severn.
We support local tourism businesses through print and digital marketing, experience and product development and facilitating professional training. If you would be interested in joining Orillia and Lake Country Tourism or would like more information please read through the attached information or contact us:
Office Phone: 705-325-9321 or through our contact form
Membership Info
Orillia and Lake Country Tourism looks forward to an exciting future of building the best year-round vacation area in Ontario.
The cost to join for any Municipal Funded Business (any business within the City of Orillia, Township of Oro-Medonte, Township of Severn & Chippewas of Rama First Nation) is FREE. If you would like to be added to our membership list please email us
The cost to join for any Non-Municipal Funded Business (any business outside of the City of Orillia, Township of Oro-Medonte, Township of Severn & Chippewas of Rama First Nation) is $150.00 annually ($150+13% HST): =$169.50
Existing Members
Please contact us directly if you require your listing to be updated with content, photos and videos.
Benefits
Maximize your advertising dollar and increase your promotional opportunities
• Optimize your reach into key markets and expand your market base
• Showcase your unique and dynamic selling points
• Effectively leverage the opportunity for provincial funding for target marketing
Don’t miss your opportunity to access the following membership benefits to increase the promotion of your business!
• FREE basic listing on www.OrilliaLakeCountry.ca including links to your website
• Affordable advertising rates to increase your presence on the website
• FREE business listing (where applicable) for members in Orillia and Lake Country Tourism
• Effectively leverage the opportunity for provincial funding for target marketing
Opportunities for Members
- Annual Visitor Guide – INFO
- Tap Into Maple
- Website advertising – INFO
- Various Print advertising
- Co-operative Programs
- Posting of Festivals, Events & Overnight Packages on the website
- Advertising your promotions and events at the Ontario Travel Centres – INFO
About Orillia & Lake Country Tourism
Vision
Orillia and Lake Country will be one of Ontario’s leading, experience-driven, four-season destinations that creates tourism wealth for the communities within it.
Mission
Orillia and Lake Country works with tourism partners to create and promote authentic experiences that encourage visitors to explore often and stay longer, resulting in a lifetime of memories and a robust local economy.
Core Objectives
- Strengthening Partnerships and Collaborations
- Delivering and Promoting Strategic Marketing Campaigns
- Creating and Supporting Exemplary Visitor Experiences
- Generate New and Leverage Existing Funding
Located in the heart of Orillia & Lake Country
We would like to encourage the use of the Orillia & Lake Country logo and brand by our partner tourism organizations and businesses. This will help to build the brand and awareness of Orillia & Lake Country. Please find attached brand guidelines for you to review prior to placing our logo on any print or web materials. We hope that you will support your destination marketing organization by placing a link on your website to ours to help promote the region and the many tourism assets we have to offer.