Prince Edward County Chamber of Tourism and Commerce

NEWSLETTER

May - June 2007

HOME - Previous Newsletters
Reminder: The 2007 County Red Maps are available to be picked up

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
What does the Ontario Chamber of Commerce Membership Mean to You & Your Business? Accountability, less red tape and strategic tax cuts are part of the compelling mandate given to the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. The Prince Edward County Chamber of Tourism & Commerce participated in this year's 95th OCC Annual General Meeting allowing us to have input into important issues that affect businesses. The Chamber network is strong and united – and that is great news for local business. Your Chamber submitted two major resolutions this year - “In Support of Agriculture” and “Changing the Way Business Regulations are Developed.” In partnership with the Prince Edward County Federation of Agriculture and our neighbouring Chambers these resolutions were adopted unanimously by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. For details on the resolutions CLICK HERE.
Thank you all for your commitment to the Chamber


INCREASING VISIBILITY PECCTAC is pleased to announce that through our partnership with the Bay of Quinte Tourist Council we have taken over the 401 service centre KIOSK located just before the – Wooler Road exit. At right: Vice President Rick Caruso with Belleville Chamber of Commerce’s General Manager Angela Genereaux



New Faces at the Office!

Beth Courneyea has been with us since January and has been instrumental in putting together the Visitor’s Itineraries. Beth is a PECI grade 12 co-op student who will be furthering her studies in business administration. Crystal Elsbury joined us for the month of April and has been instrumental in putting together a PECCTAC policy/reference manual. Crystal has completed her Loyalist Hospitality course and has taken a position with the Bean Counter. We would like to wish Crystal best of luck with her new career! We are very pleased to welcome back Sarah Cobb for the 4th summer season. New to the team is Abby Leavens who is fluent in French and has a smattering of Spanish.

The New Member-to-Member Benefit Card
		If you have not received your Member-to-Member Benefit Card or if you want to be a participating business, offering a special benefit for fellow members, please contact Jan at the office. Start using it today to take advantage of the great local shopping benefits in our County. For more information on this program and how you can participate give Jan a call at 613.476.2421. Click Here for the latest list.


Dates to Remember!	Date	Host Location
	June 12	Elliott Sage Design & Construction, 13360 Loyalist Parkway
	July 10	Hadherway Farms - Equestrian Centre 251 Swamp College Rd. Hillier
	August 14	Turret House B&B, 20809 Loyalist Parkway, Consecon
	September 11	Sandbanks Estate Winery,17598 Loyalist Parkway, R.R. #1, Wellington
	October 6	County Merchant Showcase - Picton Fairgrounds
	Oct 26	Quinte Business Achievement Awards Dinner, Alhambra Hall, Belleville
	November 6	Harvest, 106 Bridge St., Picton


		2007 Meet & Greet: always 5-7pm
Come out and meet your fellow business partners and have fun as well!


County Merchant Showcase
Don’t Miss Out! Book your space for our County Merchants Showcase on Saturday, October 6th at the Picton Community Centre. Spaces are going quickly. Call Jan at 613.476.2421 to book your space.

STRATEGIC PARTNERS

Your Chamber continues to works very closely with the East Central Ontario Training Board (ECOTB) who are proud to be one of the only 14 agencies in Ontario approved by the province to manage an exciting new Youth Entrepreneurship Project – Be Your Own Boss!
Through a series of entrepreneurship camps, mentorship opportunities and an interactive CD resource, local youth will have the opportunity to learn about being entrepreneurs. For the keen ones there will be support and funding to start their own full-time companies.

Be Your Own Boss will be accepting applications in the near future for the first Entrepreneurship Camp. This is a 3-year initiative funded by the Ministry of Small Business & Entrepreneurship

Attention Campground Owners!

BENEFIT of MEMBERSHIP

If you still have campground space available Friday morning please let Sarah know as we will be emailing The Sandbanks Provincial Park accommodation availability each Friday at noon.

Bring in Your Water Samples for PECCTAC’s Free Courier Service to the Kingston lab.

Welcome New Members

How can you verify a Credit Card

Flowers N’ Such
Hart’s Haven Cottage
Harrison House B&B
Hollyhock Haven
Jan’s County Pub
Patrick’s Weekend Beach House
Palacious Juice Bar & Café
Picton County Market
Solace Esthetics & Glow Hair Designs

Thank You For Your Support!

How Can You Verify if a Credit Card is Valid!

If you are trying to validate a Credit Card ask the
customer for the “CVV2” code which is the last
3 digits noted on the back of the credit card
after the credit card number.

Quebec Advertising Opportunity

The 2008 Francophone Tourism Information Guide is underway! With more than 500,000 readers from Quebec, French Canada and French Europe, the Francophone Tourism Information Guide is the perfect source of exposure for any tourism endeavour. With a publication of 80,000 copies and a projected download of over 100,000 from the OTMPC website you are sure to receive maximum visibility.

For $325.00 you can have the "Enhanced" listing which gives you a name mention, coloured photo, telephone number or toll free number, email address, link to your website and a 40 word (250 characters) description of your business or service. Your "Enhanced" listing will also appear on Direction Ontario's website with photo and description as in the hard copy. Of course, you can also choose the free listing under the "Basic" category but only if you book before August 15, 2007.

If you are interested in listing your business in the 2008 Francophone Tourism Information Guide fill in the six-question survey that evaluates your Francophone services at a national level. This will allow tourists to know ahead of time, what type of Francophone services they can expect when visiting your area. Please visit the following website for full details www.directionontario.ca

Call Jan at 613.476.2421 for further information on this new advertising opportunity.

2007 Quinte Business Achievements Awards

GET READY!
The Quinte Business Achievement Awards nomination process is once again upon us. It is time to nominate your favourite business, a business that you feel has excelled.

PECCTAC is looking for Prince Edward County nominations in all the categories:
+ Retail
+ Manufacturing/Industrial
+ Service/Professional
+ Tourism / Hospitality
+ Not For Profit+ New Business of the Yea
+ Business Person of the Year
+ Community Spirit Award

The winners will be presented at the Awards banquet on Friday, October 26th held at the Banquet Centre (Alhambra Hall) in Belleville. For further information go to www.qbaa.ca

Deadline for submissions is 4 pm on Friday, July 27th, 2007. Please send in or call with your nominations to Jan at 613.476.2421.

STRATEGIC PLANNING - we need your input!

The Committees and goals are:

The PECCTAC Board of Directors met in April to discuss the 2007 Strategic Plan. If any member is interested in sitting on one of the following committees or bring forward any issues they would like the committee to explore, please contact Lawrie Ackerman at 613.476.2421.

Membership & Member Benefits – Geoff Church and Adam Holgate
Goal: Provide membership benefits of value that are consistently and constantly communicated to members.

Business Advocacy – Ian Scrimshaw, Dave Ashton
Goal: PECCTAC to give support to young entrepreneurs.

Visitors Services – Courtney Lacombe, Pete Doyle, Peter Birtwistle, Rick Caruso
Goal: To establish a Countywide 24/7 VIS service with on-line availability within 3 to 5 years.

Economic Development – Andrew Smith & Lynn Weber
Goal: Facilitate communications between community groups (Picton BIA, BABA, Taste the County, WDBA)

Funding & Fundraising – Rick Caruso, Lawrie Ackerman
Goal: PECCTAC will look into fundraising ideas.