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Several pandemic-era trends – an obsession with food, interest in supporting local businesses, worries for the hospitality industry and a new appreciation for local travel – are spurring a surge in agrotourism initiatives across Eastern Ontario.
“People have increasingly had more interest in knowing where the food they’re eating comes from,” says Alison Migneault, director of marketing and communications for Tourism Kingston.
In 2019, her organization began developing Frontenac Farm to Kingston Table, a program designed to attract visitors by highlighting growers from nearby Frontenac County and Kingston chefs. Plans to begin promoting the program in March 2020 were derailed by COVID-19.
The tourism board knew time was of the essence if it wanted to help its restaurateurs. In late March 2020, The Conference Board of Canada pinpointed Kingston as one of five communities across Canada most at risk of a severe economic impact from COVID-19, due to the city’s high concentr