Lack of local hotel costing economy, Sport Aurora says

Yorkregion.com
April 29, 2016
By Teresa Latchford

Aurora’s economy is being short-changed when it comes to potential spin-off business from visiting sports teams and their families.

Local sports organizations host events throughout the year that attract thousands of visitors, according to Sport Aurora past president Ron Weese.

For example, the Central York Girls Hockey Association attracts 50 teams or about 2,500 people for its Silver Stick tournament. In the fall, the Aurora Soccer Club hosts an event that will attract more than 100 teams and there are five large baseball tournaments hitting local diamonds this summer.

But the town has nowhere for them to stay.

“With every tournament hosted in Aurora comes people and, without a hotel, we have to direct them to hotels in Markham or Newmarket,” he said. “It means they don’t stay in Aurora to eat, drink or entertain themselves.

Based on meals alone, if every person spent an average $10 for lunch during the Silver Stick tournament, that would be $25,000 injected into the local economy. And that is just for one day.

While the organization hands out a publication to sport visitors highlighting local attractions, restaurants and shops, hotels make it more likely visitors will shop, fuel up and eat where they stay.

Sport Aurora is currently undertaking a study with its 40 member organizations to see just how many heads and beds are being missed by a lack of hotel accommodations.

And it’s not just hotels lacking in Aurora. The town also comes up short when it comes to banquet facilities, forcing associations to host banquets and events in school gymnasiums or in neighbouring communities, since there are no spaces large enough to accommodate these events in town.

“We could be attracting provincial sport association meetings if we had a place to hold them,” Weese added. “I think that council is doing the right thing by actively and aggressively seeking to get a hotel built, because there is a need to be filled.”

Councillor Michael Thompson wanted to take the discussion to the next level and proposed town staff and the economic development advisory committee develop an attraction strategy for the hotel industry.

“We want to continue to take the pro-active approach,” he said. “Get the campaign perspective and let the hotel industry know our town is a great place to house a hotel.”

Any business model, including the construction of a hotel, requires a business plan and, before investing, a business needs data. This means Aurora sporting groups, businesses and event organizers, along with other town stakeholders, will play a key role in collecting numbers the town will be able to show prospective hotel developers.

“It all comes down to cost,” he said, explaining that developers will want to know land prices, development charges and the costs associated with operation, as well as potential occupancy rate to forecast revenue of their potential investment.

“We want to show them there is sufficient reason to build a hotel right here,” he added. “Partly, my gut is telling me we need a hotel, but we haven’t gathered the hard data.”

When asked if there is space for the development of a hotel in Aurora, he said the old Howard Johnson hotel could be rejuvenated, Smart Centres owns property in town that could be utilized and business parks along Leslie Street could accommodate such a facility.

Council supported his proposal at this week’s council meeting and town staff is expected to report back with a strategy prior to the approval of the 2017 budget.

One of the hurdles Aurora currently faces is climbing development charges that can deter construction of a hotel, but council has decided if there was an interested party, it would roll back to development rates charged prior to the recalculation in 2014 to make it more attractive for a developer.

Discussions with York Region to do the same are ongoing.