Brampton just embarked on a major tourism campaign to get the world to visit
Grab your camera and beach clothes, because it's time for a vacation to sunny…Brampton?
It's probably not high on anyone's travel bucket list for now, but the city northwest of Toronto is hoping to put itself on the destination map, releasing a comprehensive new tourism strategy that it hopes will actually draw visitors to the sprawling commuter suburb.
The wishfully-named Brampton Tourism Strategy is the city's first council-approved plan to promote tourism, a five-year vision to "guide the development of Brampton as an emerging destination and cultural hotspot."
I think they're going to need more than five years.
The City of Brampton (and I'm going to go ahead and say that's a generous use of the word city) released a 30-second montage of everything Brampton has to offer, and the very first shot shows Bramalea City Centre, a suburban shopping mall.
This does not bode well.
Just released | City introduces Brampton’s new tourism brand during Tourism Week
— City of Brampton (@CityBrampton) June 2, 2022
Read more: https://t.co/3Kp0Ctp9TD@Exp_Brampton pic.twitter.com/ry3fZMkgQp
Next up we have a clip of a pub-style burger (smashed is obviously better) being served at what appears to be a corporate chain restaurant.
They also have the occasional boxing match, a small regional art gallery, rock climbing, axe throwing, a VR arcade, and other things you probably don't need to travel outside of your hometown to experience.
It's like a more polished version of the comedic Cleveland tourism ads that went viral in the late 2000s, and not too unlike the intro from the nightmarish Adult Swim throwback Tom Goes to the Mayor.
For what it's worth, Brampton is indeed an attractive place for new Canadians to settle, and as such, it does host many visiting their families from abroad.
This same multiculturalism gives Brampton arguably one of the best food scenes in Ontario, something the City is hoping to further cultivate, with food tourism one of the four areas of growth targeted in the tourism plan.
Brampton is also looking to bolster its arts and culture, special events and attractions, and sports tourism scenes, which have been identified as having the most potential to turn into generators for a visitor economy.
And some of the infrastructure needed for a meteoric rise in tourism is already in place, with Brampton's city centre at Queen and Main about eight kilometres from Toronto-Pearson International Airport.
Infrastructure is in fact, one of four key priority areas identified as necessary to support growth as a tourist destination, along with fostering pride of place, marketing and communications, and leveraging tourism development streams.
