County tourism program to promote Tillsonburg

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

Will your next stop be Tillsonburg?

A new Oxford County Tourism program is assisting daytrippers in choosing Tillsonburg as their destination of choice.

Meredith Maywood, Oxford County Tourism manager, explained that consumers are looking for trip planning made easy. This is something staff in Oxford County Tourism have recognized for some time and have been trying to address. She explained that many people want to explore lesser-known areas instead of the big destinations, so packages have been put together under the Next Stop program, and in this case Next Stop Tillsonburg.

“We know that we have a lot of great things in the area for touring, and people love small towns. What we want to do is let them know what’s here,” she said.

Maywood explained Next Stop Tillsonburg, for example, will promote a variety of options within the town.

“We also know that they're probably driving two hours or more to get here, so what we say is we want to minimize the drive time and increase the time having fun,” she said. “We're letting them know here are some stops that are in close proximity to each other that you can enjoy and make a fun day out of it.”

The program launched last year with three rural destinations, including one in South-West Oxford. This year is seeing three urban, small towns, added, including Tillsonburg.

“The Tillsonburg campaign is focussed on celebrating those things that are really unique to Tillsonburg, whether that's a local history story that's being shared or it's a business or activity that you can really only find in Tillsonburg,” she said.

The program launch is planned for October and businesses are currently being sought to join the program. Several businesses have already signed on to the program, and if enough are found in the next few weeks, the program could launch earlier in August.