Graham MacKenzie, the recently appointed Manager of the region’s sole tourism marketing association, the Patricia Region Tourist Council (PRTC) spoke to Dryden Rotary on the current state of the organisation.
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PRTC began over sixty years ago. It is comprised of one-hundred ninety-five “roofed accommodators”, ten townships and allied associations plus 85 allied business. The Patricia Tourist Council incorporated in 1994 as a not for profit corporation, after nearly forty years as an unincorporated organisation.Its territory stretches from Stewart Lake to the West, Upsala to the East, halfway down 502 in the South and Hudson Bay to the North, an area about 80,000 km squared.
With the American economy on a roll, there has been a major turn-around for local and regional tourist operators. Many operators have already begun or are in the process of planning on refurbishing and building new lodges or cabins. Some are also considering opening during winter months.
For over twenty years PRTC has been producing a map of the regions lakes and fishing camps. At one time the print run was 200,000 maps. Printing is expensive and how the industry marketed itself has changed significantly. For example, where the All Canada Outfitters show in Chicago once ran for ten days, it is now a three-day affair. Requests for maps now happen online. However, each cost $3.00 to mail to an American customer.
Advantges of the new interactive map
 A portion of the original paper map. |  A portion of the new interactive map viewed on an iPhone. |
 Click on the red number and the advertisement for the Camp with a link appears. Green numbers are motels or hotels. |  Click on the three upper bars and access to more links appear. |
MacKenzie’s priority has been to build a customised interactive digital free map that is accessible at any time on a client’s cell phone. Although it is an improved version of the traditional map, it is superimposed over Googles’ map with the ability when clicking on a site number to zero in on a particular camp and access its website.
The map is operational and is retrievable at https://freemap.ca/