Reports/Rapports : Benchmarking the Creative Economy in Rural Ontario

Source: Martin Prosperity Institute.
"In the emerging economy of the 21st century, rural communities and peripheral regions across Ontario face significant challenges in encouraging continued economic growth and regional prosperity. With the ongoing reduction in the relative importance of manufacturing, and the restructuring of the agricultural industry, many rural communities have turned to tourism as a way to promote job creation and respond to declining social and economic conditions."

"The challenges rural communities face have only become further augmented by the ever expanding emphasis on knowledge-based industries and on larger metropolitan centres in the emerging service-driven economy. Indeed, communities and cities across Ontario are increasingly seeking new and innovative ways to bolster and strengthen their economies in the Creative Age. Although some communities have experienced success in using tourism to promote prosperity, they are seldom able to regain the same level of success, economic diversity and self-sustaining momentum they once experienced.

However, opportunities exist for rural communities to regain momentum and stimulate their regional economies by pursuing their own distinct strategies in the emerging Creative Economy."

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WWW: www.martinprosperity.org