There’s a familiar face in former County CAO Mike Rutter’s office, as Angelica Ingram takes over as the Highlands’ new tourism manager.
Many would know Ingram as a reporter with the Haliburton Echo and Minden Times until 2018. She went on to work for SIRCH and the Haliburton BIA while raising her two young girls with husband, Chad.
Now that the kids are in school, Ingram said it was the perfect time to return to full-time work, and she couldn’t pass up applying for the tourism job when she saw it advertised.
Born and raised in Richmond Hill, Ingram got her first taste of cottage country working as a summer student for a newspaper in Muskoka.
“I loved it. There were a lot of feel-good stories about small town living and tourism. It was a great job.”
She returned to the city, found a corporate gig, but was not happy. Then the Echo and Times job was posted. She got a reporting position in the fall of 2009, thinking she’d spend a year, pad her resume, and move on.
“That was 14 years ago,” Ingram says with a laugh.
She said in Richmond Hill, she could not name 20 people she knew. However, “within a year or two of living in Haliburton, I had a community. That really kept me in the area. People knew their neighbours. People looked out for each other.”
SIRCH allowed Ingram to hone her marketing skills and get a handle on the clientele serviced by the agency. The BIA fulfilled her interest in economic development and downtown beautification.
Some have questioned her experience for a tourism manager, but Ingram said, “you could have a very qualified individual, but you can’t make them know or fall in love with the area. If you don’t have a passion for the area, it’s really hard to market it.
“How do you get people to come up for experiences or book accommodations or go to restaurants if you yourself are not enthusiastic about the restaurants or the accommodations or experiences up here?”
She added she told her interviewers, “you can teach me things, but you can’t teach me where you can find the best food, the best lunch spot, or things like that.”
Ingram added it is the landscape that is the major drawcard to the County, which is why protecting the local climate is paramount.
“That’s why environmental groups are important because we need to keep all of that protected and intact and as pristine as possible because (otherwise) people aren’t going to want to come up here.”
Ingram feels blessed to have followed in the footsteps of, first, Amanda Virtanen, and then Tracie Bertrand. She already has a blueprint for the job. She has Thom Lambert and Eric Casper to draw on.
“There’s been some really great work done in the last 10 years,” she says of branding, social media, websites, and collaboration.
She will continue to work towards making the County a year-round destination, not just a summer one, pointing out how the Hike Haliburton winter festival is growing, and they will continue to endeavour to get more shoulder season visitors.
She said she and Lambert are discussing marketing the area as a place to rejuvenate. “There’s some really neat stuff happening and I think that’s another area that we could pursue and expand.
“I think I’m coming into the role at a really great time. I just want to build on a lot of what Amanda and Tracie have begun. I don’t need to reinvent the wheel. We’ll look to other areas to see what they are doing well.”
She said the key is pivoting, a lesson learned from COVID.
She noted climate change is bringing changed winter conditions and providers cannot always rely on tourism opportunities of the past.
“Stakeholders have to get involved because their livelihood can’t just be based on a six-week season.”
Ingram said her department is asking, “what does tourism look like? Does it look like a wellness, holistic, retreat type of thing? I think that’s something that’s definitely going to be top of mind for the next couple of years.”
They are also discussing sustainability. “Does this area want more visitors or does it want someone who comes and stays longer? We have to think about all that. What’s our long-term goal?
She added she also brings a “young family, kid perspective” to the job.
“There are so many great events for young kids and for families, but what’s missing and what more do we need? What can we promote more?”
