What We Do
“The key to successful tourism destination development is highly engaged communities that take an active role in shaping their collective future. The best destinations have engagement across a broad spectrum of tourism stakeholders; business, public, financial, political and a host of others, not just tourism and marketing entities.”
Regional Tourism Organization 4 Inc. (RTO4) was incorporated in October 2010 pursuant to the Ontario Ministry of Tourism’s request to create “an organization that will coordinate the diverse interests of the tourism industry to build and support a competitive tourism region through marketing and destination management.” Our region (Ontario Tourism Region #4) encompasses Huron County, Perth County, Waterloo Region and Wellington County.
RTO4 follows a ‘goal-strategy-measurement’ model to create, implement and assess the tools and tactics that are the most appropriate for growing the tourism economy in this region.
Region DNA
Ontario Tourism Region 4 encompasses Huron County, Perth County, Waterloo Region and Wellington County
Guiding Principles
RTO4 follows a purpose-built model based on a process of ‘goal-strategy-measurement’ to create, implement and assess the tools and tactics that are the most appropriate for growing the tourism economy in this region. The team operates on five guiding principles:
- Hygiene First – a critical focus on working with stakeholders to identify and fix those things that impede tourism growth
- Destination Network – a holistic view of destinations that engages multiple stakeholders in shaping a community’s collective tourism future
- Shared Story Brand – redefining brand in the modern media world as the sum total of shared stories and experiences about a given destination
- A relentless focus on the visitor experience
- Enabling Engagement – working with stakeholders to strengthen their ability to engage consumers
Destination Development Process
RTO4 Destination Development Process
Phase one – align and engage the Destination network:
- Destination Network – Identify and align a diverse group of Destination stakeholders
- Destination DNA – Develop consensus on the essence of a place and it’s people
Phase two – Collaborative Destination network projects focusing on DNA and Visitor Experience:
- Hygiene – Identify, fix and enhance physical and digital experience issues
- Animation – Create and enhance experiences that align with the DNA
- Storytelling – Increase the efficacy of DNA storytelling and amplification
Why We Unbrand Ourselves?
RTO4 is not a brand.
A look at the successes and failures of previous regional models in the province points to the fact that the umbrella branding of RTOs caused consumer confusion and friction with branded destinations and operators. Therefore, instead of consumer-facing assets, RTO4 focuses on using resources to enhance existing demand generators and amplify, disseminate brands within the RTO4 region that are provincially significant.
Supporting Elora Fergus Tourism – Workforce Development and Strategy Planning
RTO4, the Township of Centre Wellington and Elora & Fergus Tourism have worked as partners over the past several years supporting Elora & Fergus’ growth and development as [...]
Tourism Relief Fund – RTO4 Program Launch
Intake for the RTO4 - Tourism Relief Fund is now closed, and the review process has begun. We received 111 [...]
Grand River Destination Animation Program
APPLICATIONS DUE April 30, 2022 AT 11:59PM RTO4 invites eligible organizations and businesses to apply to the Grand River Destination [...]
2021-2022 Year in Review
Fiscal year 2021-2022 has been a year of learning and adapting for tourism as we work together through the COVID-19 [...]
Open RFP – Economic Impact of Tourism in Huron County
The purpose of this RFP is to invite qualified firms to submit proposals to perform an economic impact of tourism [...]
Government of Canada supports Regional Tourism Organization 4 Inc. through the Tourism Relief Fund
Government of Canada supports Regional Tourism Organization 4 Inc. through the Tourism Relief Fund RTO4 to deliver $5 million in [...]
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