Niagara Falls is a natural phenomenon and beauty that straddles the Canadian-American border. Niagara Falls, Ontario has capitalized on this, but Niagara Falls, New York has not. What should be done, should there be more cooperation between the two? Can NFNY catch up, or come close?
___________________
http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/travel/tourism/2005/07/04/buffalo_story2.html
Business First of Buffalo
From the July 4, 2005 print edition

Tourism's border divide
Region's hospitality tale a story of two nations
James Fink
Business First
To quote Charles Dickens, the first six months of 2005 has been the best of times and the worst of times for the local tourism industry.

To those on the Canadian side of the Niagara River and Lake Erie, it was the best of times as tourism and hospitality initiatives continue to take hold. Private-sector investment continues at a record-breaking pace and, regardless of the season, places like Clifton Hill and Niagara-on-the-Lake are seeing more people walking along the streets and staying overnight.

Then there's the American side.

Tourism and hospitality agencies in Erie and Niagara counties remain hamstrung by political decisions that have all but gutted their budgets, decimated marketing initiatives and crippled regional momentum that was just beginning to take hold.

"You can't grow a market unless you invest in it," said Richard Geiger, Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau president.

The Buffalo Niagara CVB and the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center saw their budgets sliced in half, a byproduct of Erie County's fiscal meltdown. In February, county lawmakers decided to use half of the incoming bed-tax dollars to help cover the 2005 budget deficit. The bed tax was created nearly 20 years ago specifically to fund the CVB and convention center, and not other county functions.

The result is that the Buffalo Niagara CVB's budget is now just $1.7 million, down from the nearly $3 million it had in 2004. It was forced to lay off several staffers, including 30 percent of its sales force - the team that brings conventions, meetings, special events and athletic ventures to the region.

The convention center now operates on a $1 million budget, having had its county allocation sliced in half.

"They're giving us nickels and dimes to promote the region," Geiger said.

The irony is that Buffalo had one of its strongest first quarters this year, playing host to national figure-skating championships, a swimming competition and conventions like a gathering of Mary Kay salespeople that brought 2,000 people to the city.

"We were building a strong foundation," Geiger said. "A lot of things were going in the right direction."

In Niagara County, the story isn't much better.

The Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp. is still waiting for a promised - but never delivered - $1 million allocation from the county's share of revenues generated by the Seneca Niagara Casino.

Members of Niagara County's state delegation have been logjammed in their efforts to allocate the nearly $11 million delivered by the Seneca Niagara Gaming Corp.

As a result, the NTCC had to drop an aggressive marketing campaign that would have helped spread the region's name in Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Syracuse - all considered magnets for tourists and visitors.

"We simply cannot spend what we do not have," said David Rosenwasser, NTCC president.

Combined, Buffalo and Niagara Falls have a total tourism budget of roughly $3 million.

Pittsburgh, by comparison, has a $9 million tourism budget; Columbus has a $6.4 million tourism marketing spending package and Milwaukee has a $6 million budget.

All three are cities that compete with Buffalo and Niagara Falls for tourism and convention dollars.

"You can't grow a market unless you invest in it," Geiger said. "Amateur sporting events and conventions don't just show up in Buffalo. You really have to market the area and right now, we are being grossly outspent by our competition."

For now, the impact of the budget cutbacks won't been seen.

If anything, it's just the opposite.

Hotels and venues are still reaping the benefits of past years' marketing initiatives.

Hotel-room revenue through April is up 5.7 percent and room occupancy is up 6.6 percent, according to Smith Travel Research data.

In Niagara Falls, hotel occupancy was also up 1.1 percent.

"We're still seeing great figures this year because we are working off last year's dollars," said John Percy, NTCC vice president of sales and marketing.

According to a study conducted by Niagara University's College of Hospitality & Tourism Management, every dollar the NTCC invested in its 2004 marketing initiatives produced a $30 return on that investment.

The NTCC's 2004 campaign had a $55 million economic impact on the county and region, the Niagara University study concluded.

Add to that a number of big-ticket tourism and hospitality investments in Erie and Niagara counties ranging from the nearly $30 million Darwin Martin House restoration effort to the construction of a 26-story hotel that will adjoin the Seneca Niagara Casino, and the region is poised for a hospitality explosion - if it weren't for the funding issues that have deflated so many of the inroads and efforts.

"I wish the legislators would understand that things like bed-tax dollars are not public revenues," Percy said. "These are specific dollars that are supposed to produce a return on our investment in the hospitality industry."

All Percy has to do is look across the Rainbow Bridge to see what's happening in Niagara Falls, Ont.

The city continues to cement its position as the tourism and hospitality hub of both Southern Ontario and Western New York.

The two casinos - Casino Niagara and Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort - help, but there is more to the Niagara region than blackjack tables.

Since January, Niagara Falls has seen:

Work begin on a $200 million Great Wolf Lodge complex that includes an indoor waterpark and aquarium. The first phase of the complex, which is being jointly developed by Ripley's Entertainment and Great Wolf Lodge, will open next spring.
Plans announced for a 59-story hotel near the Rainbow Bridge.
A dramatic facelift for Clifton Hill including the construction of a 175-foot-tall Ferris Wheel.
Greg Frewin, a Las Vegas-trained magician open a $20 million theater complex.
Professional golfer John Daly announce that he will attempt to hit a golf ball over the Falls in early August as a kick-off for a course he has developed in the city, putting Niagara Falls in the spotlight.
A proposal from Toronto developers to transform a section of Queen Street near Niagara Falls City Hall and the Whirlpool Bridge into posh theater district.
"People are recognizing the Niagara Falls brand name, and it is paying off," said Victor Ferraiuolo, Niagara Falls Tourism interim president.

How's this for irony:

From Business First of Buffalo

Falls draws accolades from travel group
James Fink

The Travel Industry Association of America has picked Niagara Falls in the exact middle of a Top Ten list of "American Treasures."

TIA recently conducted an online survey of top American Treasures and Niagara Falls finished fifth.

That puts Niagara Falls in the same category as such landmarks as the White House, Statue of Liberty, Grand Canyon and the Rocky Mountains.

"Niagara Falls has long been considered the treasure of Western New York, but it's exciting to be considered among one of the top treasures in the United States," said R. Thomas Weeks, Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp. chairman. Weeks also owns Grand Tours and Ridge Road Express.

The list comes just as the peak summer season is hitting its stride, as evidenced by the high occupancy rate reported this past weekend by area hotels.

"This is the kind of publicity that separates Niagara Falls and Niagara USA from the rest of the pack," said David Rosenwasser, NTCC president.

© 2005 American City Business Journals Inc.

^Interesting. I think the fact that this thread in the Ontario section (with two posts), and the thread in the Northeast section (with eleven posts) shows that most people still think of Niagara Falls as two different sections. (Strangely, in SSP, the Ontario thread is thriving, whilst the Northeast thread is stagnant.)

Remember when they tried to fix it? And it broke?! That was funny.

I think they're focussing more on malls and convention centres now. I have a puzzle of Niagara Falls NY. It's an okay looking place.

Weren't there plans by WNY officials to build a couple of casinos in NFNY too? I somehow remember Hilton being amongst the investors.

Weren't there plans by WNY officials to build a couple of casinos in NFNY too? I somehow remember Hilton being amongst the investors.

well there is the senaca casino which is open and there are vague plans for a second casino possibly in buffalo

One Falls as a role model for the other
________________________________________
Niagara Falls, Ont., symbolizes how - in an atmosphere of imagination and cooperation - a neighboring region such as Southern Ontario can flourish. There is much that Buffalo Niagara can emulate as it hopes for "a new dawn."

By BILL MICHELMORE
NEWS NIAGARA BUREAU
7/3/2005

NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. - Imagine a city where 10,000 new jobs have been created during the last 10 years, where the population quadrupled in the last four decades, where the unemployment rate fell from a staggering 14.2 percent a dozen years ago to 6 percent today.
This isn't some Sun Belt paradise. It's Niagara Falls, Ont., boomtown, part of a vibrant region, some of whose biggest success stories sit 25 minutes from downtown Buffalo.
"I was born and raised here," said Mayor R.T. "Ted" Salci, "and sometimes I just can't believe what I'm seeing."
Neither can planners on the American side of the border. Growth in Southern Ontario has captured their imaginations, and has raised calls to more closely align the fortunes of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, N.Y., while pursuing development as a region.
That approach, these planners predict, could allow Western New Yorkers to prosper alongside their Canadian neighbors in a new, complementary economy - with an American flair.
"There is no doubt in my mind that the Buffalo Niagara region is approaching a new dawn," said Robert G. Shibley, a professor of architecture and planning at the University at Buffalo and director of its Urban Design Project.
Like Western New Yorkers, Southern Ontario residents watched manufacturing slide during the 1960s, under the same global pressures. Rather than spend the next several decades trying to recapture their industrial heyday, communities adjusted.
Buoyed by good planning and a steady provincial hand, the region diversified its economy. Its leaders decided to treat prospective devel opers pretty much the same, with no community trying to lure business from another nearby. From Toronto to Fort Erie, competition gave way to cooperation.
The region welcomed immigrants and international investment, and played to its strengths.
Results in Niagara Falls alone give pause: The Ontario city has seen more development in the last decade than its American counterpart has seen in half a century.
The value of new construction permits rocketed from $59.6 million (U.S.) in 1996 to $325.5 million (U.S.) by 2002. More than 40 new hotels and motels have gone up since 1995.
Two skyscraper hotels planned for the next three years, at 58 and 59 stories, will become the tallest buildings on the Niagara Frontier, each more than one-third higher than Buffalo's 38-story HSBC Center.
Mayors and planners from Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Lewiston want to plug into that success. They meet regularly with fellow leaders from the Ontario communities of Fort Erie, Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake.


Generating employment
They discuss many subjects, from border issues to development. And they envision a region that curves from Toronto to Rochester: a burgeoning Golden Horseshoe of nearly 10 million people - an employment powerhouse with so many tourist attractions that it would take years to visit them all.
One region, two countries. And smack-dab in the middle: Buffalo Niagara.
Guidance may be found in the way the Canadians developed Southern Ontario. Policies set by the Ontario government's Ministry of Municipal Affairs focus on developing Southern Ontario as one region, but in sectors, identifying several areas for their strengths and attractions.
The provincial government has long seen Hamilton as a major industrial center. Niagara Falls, clearly, is seen as a growing mecca for tourism. Niagara-on-the-Lake is treasured as a wine region, theater center and historic site.
Planners in Toronto and Hamilton used the same approach to develop their cities. Both contain bustling neighborhoods with different characteristics.
Land in Ontario is seen as a community asset. Wide swaths have been set aside for the public good, including the heralded Niagara River Parkway, a 35-mile road and recreational trail that stretches from Fort Erie to Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Contrast that approach to New York State's "home rule" approach to planning, which historically has been weak and has been left to individual communities.
Taken as a whole, the New York system appears disjointed and extremely independent. A confusing maze of regulations - in which neighboring communities compete to win projects, public money, industry and jobs - has trampled big-picture development.
"It seems like we're all talking about the same thing - development, growth and prosperity - but we never seem to be on the same page," said Thomas J. DeSantis, senior city planner for Niagara Falls, N.Y. "We can't get that many people to work together. But when I go over to Ontario and talk to planners and city officials there, I see a cooperation that seems unattainable on this side."
Timothy E. Wanamaker is president of Buffalo Economic Renaissance Corp., the City of Buffalo's development arm.
"We need a regional planning board overseeing development in the Buffalo Niagara area," he said. "Unfortunately, we have too many levels in the approval process. It slows us down."
In Erie and Niagara counties, there are more than 60 local zoning and planning boards, and at least two dozen industrial development agencies and related organizations. Each has some sort of say or control over proposed developments.


Streamlined approval
Proposed projects in Hamilton need to clear one level of approval: the City Council. In Niagara Falls, Ont., there are two: the City Council and the Regional Council.
Every Thursday in Hamilton, all city department heads, planners, conservationists and anyone else with a stake in a proposed development meet in City Hall and discuss pending projects.
"The Council has delegated as much as possible to the staff," said Stephen Robichaud, manager of Hamilton's Strategic Initiatives Department. With professional staff and only one level of approval, projects get the go-ahead in weeks, instead of the years it can take in Western New York.
Erie County has three cities, 25 towns and 16 villages, for a total of 44 individual governing bodies. Niagara County has three cities, 12 towns and five villages, for a total of 20.
On the Ontario side of the border, in an area about the same size, there are 12 municipalities governed by the Regional Municipality of Niagara, including the cities of Niagara Falls and St. Catharines. The City of Hamilton is an amalgamation of six towns. That means 13 municipal bodies, compared with 64 in Erie and Niagara counties.
"All the municipalities you have to work with on the American side of the border," said Robichaud, "that would be a nightmare."
Then there are the business incentives.
In Buffalo and Niagara Falls, N.Y., and their neighboring municipalities, state and county industrial and economic-development agencies hand out tax breaks, low-interest loans and other enticements to attract new businesses and keep existing ones.
The Province of Ontario does not allow local governments to work that way. The province helps with funding for new roads, public transportation and infrastructure to support development, and also sometimes helps pay for part of the planning process. But companies must foot the bill for their projects, so they rise or fall based on solid business plans and a company's ability to gather private financing, not its connections to members of political bodies or public authorities.
"You take away all that wheeling and dealing, and you end up with a very collaborative approach," said Douglas A. Darbyson, director of planning and development in Niagara Falls, Ont.
The simplicity and collaboration draw outsiders, and international investment, including American dollars. Buffalo's Paul L. Snyder is one of the five partners in Falls Management, a Toronto-based company that operates the two falls casinos for the Province of Ontario - Casino Niagara and the $660 million (U.S.) Fallsview Resort.
"What has made Niagara Falls, Ont., so successful in creating an international resort destination is the tremendous cooperation between the province, the city and private development," Snyder said. "Being located next to a world-famous entertainment destination," he added, "can only help us" in Buffalo.
Of the dozens of high-profile commercial proposals in Niagara Falls, Ont., during the last decade, the majority have been completed or are under construction, said Serge Felicetti, director of the city's Business Development Department.
Across the border, in Niagara Falls, N.Y., the success ratio is closer to 10 percent.
To be sure, casino gaming is the linchpin for much of the new development on both sides of the border. The two Canadian casinos grossed $968 million (U.S.) in the 2004-05 fiscal year, said Teresa Roncon, a spokeswoman for the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.
But more important on the Canadian side is the recognition that tourism can drive an economy and create good jobs - especially in a region blessed enough to contain one of the wonders of world.
Manufacturing still makes up 22 percent of the economy in Niagara Falls, Ont., said Felicetti, but tourism accounts for about $1.2 billion (U.S.) a year in terms of money spent and spinoff jobs.
Tourism in the Niagara Region - which stretches from Fort Erie west to Grimsby, about five miles east of Hamilton - provides about 30,000 jobs, officials said. The two casinos account for 5,546 of those jobs and an annual payroll of $133 million (U.S.), Roncon said.


The "vision thing'
"Since Casino Niagara opened (in 1996), there have literally been thousands of spinoff jobs," said Nathan Hyde, executive coordinator in the Niagara Falls, Ont., mayor's office.
After the casino opened, the province's gaming corporation set aside $1 million for the city to hire 30 new police officers. Hundreds of hospitality management positions have opened up across the city, Hyde said, as well as the need for more teachers, health care workers and local manufacturers to supply the two casinos and other hospitality trades.
The Seneca Nation of Indians opened its first casino in Niagara Falls, N.Y., on New Year's Eve 2002. It was the first major development on the American side in decades. Now a four-star, high-rise hotel behind the casino is nearing completion, and other long-stalled proposals are gathering steam.
By the end of the year, Seneca leaders have said, they will announce their preferred site for a casino in the City of Buffalo, one expected to be smaller than Seneca Niagara Casino.
Though a casino will be part of the mix in Buffalo, Wanamaker said, he does not consider it a lifesaver.
"I'm not going to build my economic development around a casino," he said. "Dollar for dollar, I'd rather have 20 small companies come here than one casino."
Wanamaker and other Western New York planners think that the region can stop hemorrhaging businesses and people but that it is going to take more than blueprints; it's going to take a whole new attitude and a big something called imagination.
"We need to reimagine the cities of Buffalo and Niagara Falls," said Shibley, the UB planning professor. "Call it a vision thing, a regional vision thing.
"We have to stop operating out of fear and depression. Too many people have been doing that for 30 years. We can't rebuild the steel industry, but we can build on existing neighborhoods like the Theater District, the medical complex and the waterfront."
In Buffalo, new development must begin in the downtown core and spread from there, Shibley said, and people in the region must understand that sound development will take time, as it has in Southern Ontario.
Five years ago, he said, there were 3,000 people living in downtown Buffalo, half of them in detention centers. Today, 400 new housing units are being developed in an eight-block area.


Solving image problem
To implement the "vision thing," the city must overcome the image thing.
"Nobody bashes Buffalo more than Buffalonians," said Wanamaker, who moved here two years ago from Washington, D.C., to lead the city's makeover.
When he addressed an international convention of Realtors in Las Vegas last year, Wanamaker said, few knew more about Buffalo than its winters and the stereotype image of a convoy of advancing snowplows.
His presentation began with a rarely seen panoramic view of the Buffalo skyline taken from the harbor, and included details of a strategic plan to build on existing downtown hubs.
"They were genuinely surprised at all that Buffalo has to offer," Wanamaker said, "and when I told them about Bass Pro coming here, they wanted to follow."
The time has come, Shibley said, to roll up our collective sleeves.
"Let us imagine a prosperous, binational region," he said, "replete with culture, entertainment, history and an extraordinary geographical experience."

http://buffalonews.com/editorial/20050703/1071454.asp
Check out the above link for photos and diagrams.

It's just occured to me...

a key part to NFON's success, which I think some American planners/polititians may not realize when talking of emulating NFON's success, is that Ontario's Niagara region does so well because it's part of Ontario. All of this money, these tourists, they come from the Canadian side. When people come to see NF from other countries, they mostly land at pearson, not Buffalo (or NFNY, for that matter). It's not like the Niagara region is booming on it's own accord.... it's simply a nice part of a great, thriving, economically solid province. Most tourists think of NF has a Toronto sideshow.

Which brings me to my revelation... what can NFNY, Buffalo, and western New York offer that Ontario can't? Nothing. Honestly, nothing. I try to be polite on these forums when it comes to the Buffalo area... I'm sure it's great, I've seen pics that convince me of this.... but as an Ontarioan, theres really no reasion for me to ever cross the border. As a tourist, it's the same thing. Perhaps people should realize that this is a race that NFNY can't win. Why not concentrate on creating a sustainable, healthy city for western New Yorkers to live in instead, rather than chasing the big dreams. You see, there's something NFNY could do better than NFON... urbanity. The infastructure is already there.

I bet you some Americans SHIT themselves when they look across to the Canadian side.
Usually it's the other way around.

Niagara Falls N.Y is a terribly drab place, while Niagara Falls On. is amazing and spectacular.

I'd like to see the two prosper (but have Niagara Falls On. prosper a little better) ;)

It's just occured to me...

Which brings me to my revelation... what can NFNY, Buffalo, and western New York offer that Ontario can't? Nothing. Honestly, nothing. I try to be polite on these forums when it comes to the Buffalo area... I'm sure it's great, I've seen pics that convince me of this.... but as an Ontarioan, theres really no reasion for me to ever cross the border. As a tourist, it's the same thing. .

Well technically, Canadians went to Western NY & Michigan for the shopping. Howeer, now with the foreign exchange rate so much higher...

Sadly I'm half tempted to go on that ferry to Rochester. Partly to look back at the Toronto skyline of course. Maybe Rochester will surprise me. As for Niagara Falls, NY - mmmmmm NOT. It makes Clifton Hill look classy! Its a Days Inn hell hole full of bogans.

Bogans?

Bogans?

thats what i was gunna say......

Regarding Samsonyeun's post: "Weren't there plans by WNY officials to build a couple of casinos in NFNY too? I somehow remember Hilton being amongst the investors."

There were never any plans by "WNY officials" to build any casinos in WNY because casino gambling is still illegal in New York State. How did the Seneca Niagara casino come into being, you ask? Because Governor Pataki, in Albany, found a loop hole in the law. He figured out that if we give some of the land to an Indian tribe, they would have the right to do whatever they want with it. So when you visit the Seneca Niagara casino, you are on sovereign Indian land, and no longer in NYS and indeed, not even technically in the United States. The casino in NFNY is on sovereign land, so New York State laws do not apply there. That's why there is concern (and I have not researched the validity of the concern) about what would happen if you were ever injured in the casino. Whose laws would determine the outcome as far as liability. And I know the employees are sometimes pissed off because NYS labor laws don't cover them, in terms of number of hours they have to work and work conditions. The involvement of "WNY officials" has been very limited because the Federal government (Bureau of Indian Affairs) has more interaction with Indian tribes than State goverments due, in part, to the treaties that were signed in the 19th Century. It's not that WNY officials would not like to build more casinos, it's more that they can't.

^ thats utterly fascinating... thanks for the insight

Yes, G.W. Bush -having had experience both as a Governor and a President - spoke to this issue of tribal sovereignty and how such jurisdictional disputes are to be settled in the 21st century:

http://homepage.mac.com/njenson/movies/sovereignty.html

algonquin, I'm detecting severe sarcasm in your post, but actually it is interesting. And whether or not you agree, it's a fact that is relevant to the conversation. It helps to explain why there isn't more competition on the NY side of the border. The success Niagara Falls, Ontario has enjoyed is largely (though not completely) based on something that's illegal on the US side-gambling. NFNY simply cannot compete with NFON, not because the WNY officials are complete idiots (though I think they are) but because they are precluded by the law not to. It goes to show how Western New York State is getting screwed once again by a Governor who is more concerned with the part of the State around NYC. Geography is playing a major role in NFNY's demise.

What I think is interesting is the challenge that the Federal Government will eventually give NY and other States over casino compacts, like the one in New York. There is a question about whether or not a State's Governor has the authority to essentially give away land that belongs, not only to New Yorkers, but also to all Americans. (i.e. Niagara Falls, NY is not only part of the State, but also part of the United States.)

Now I'll grant you that this may be of more interest to an American than to a Canadian, and I am posting this in a Canadian thread, but I don't think this issue is irrelevant to the NFNY vs. NFON debate.

algonquin, I'm detecting severe sarcasm in your post, but actually it is interesting. And whether or not you agree, it's a fact that is relevant to the conversation.

LOL... no, no, I wasn't being sarcastic. Your post was utterly fascinating. What a big loophole that is for sure. Hey, maybe the US army can send so-called terrorists to the Seneca casino rather than gitmo to avoid US law(just kidding.... totally kidding).

Or better yet, give the whole city of NFNY to a native tribe.

On a side note, I'm the type of person who thinks having casinos pop up everywhere, including on native land, to be very distasteful. In Ontario, we've got Casino Windsor, Casino Rama.. theres another place up near Kingston on the 401.... slots at every racetrack... is nothing sacred? Cities like Niagara Falls (either side) should be the only place for casinos... concentrate them, like Vegas.

^

Amen.

LOL... no, no, I wasn't being sarcastic. Your post was utterly fascinating. What a big loophole that is for sure. Hey, maybe the US army can send so-called terrorists to the Seneca casino rather than gitmo to avoid US law(just kidding.... totally kidding).

Or better yet, give the whole city of NFNY to a native tribe.

On a side note, I'm the type of person who thinks having casinos pop up everywhere, including on native land, to be very distasteful. In Ontario, we've got Casino Windsor, Casino Rama.. theres another place up near Kingston on the 401.... slots at every racetrack... is nothing sacred? Cities like Niagara Falls (either side) should be the only place for casinos... concentrate them, like Vegas.

i agree totally!!! every casino should be in Niagara falls, i dont think they should be in other cities, plus it takes away from niagara falls.