New survey results on how Niagara-on-the-Lake residents feel about living in town — which suggest, from those who responded, an overwhelmingly positive attitude to most parts of life in NOTL — are a great representation of how NOTLers really feel, says Coun. Erwin Wiens.
The findings, calculated by Abacus Data, were presented at a committee of the whole meeting Tuesday evening.
Tim Jennings, the Shaw Festival’s executive director and CEO, said the data serves to mitigate a “possibly negative narrative” developing around the community’s relationship to NOTL’s tourism economy.
The first version of the survey was presented to council in May 2022 and the new data was presented in anticipation of a new tourism plan.
“I think these results speak for themselves and clearly express that our residents believe in the importance of tourism in their lifestyle, economic well-being and building a brighter future for the town,” he said.
Eddie Sheppard, the research agency’s vice president, walked councillors through the findings of a survey presented to Niagara-on-the-Lake residents, finding them to be even more content with living in town than they were in 2022.
The survey was conducted using the exact methodology as in 2022, interviewing 300 residents using the “random digit dialling approach,” Sheppard said.
“That basically means we randomly call people from town and have them take part in a survey.”
This method is the only way to get a true representative sample as it allows for filtration based on age, gender and region of the town, Sheppard said.
Sheppard made clear that residents went into the survey without any prior knowledge of its intention.
“We didn’t recruit people to do a tourism study,” he said, adding that participants were asked a series of questions with no background on the study or who paid for it.
Two key stats found that 89 per cent of residents found they have a positive quality of life compared to 50 per cent nationwide and 91 per cent are satisfied with the level of peace and quiet in the town.
Both of these rates have increased since the 2022 survey was conducted.
In terms of those who said their quality of life worsened, nine per cent said this was due to infrastructure and six per cent said it was due to new residents moving to town.
“Across the board, this is a very small minority of the individuals that we surveyed,” he said.
Among the things that were most important to people, most residents said parks and green space were important, followed by attractions, amenities and things to do.
90 per cent of residents recognize the important role tourism plays in town, with eight in 10 feeling that it is important to NOTL’s character, Sheppard said.
“Residents are very much aware that tourism helps enhance these aspects of their life within the town,” he said.
The two things respondents wanted to focus on improving most were parking and traffic congestion, Sheppard said.
“Looking at commercial infrastructure, social infrastructure, parking, things like that, those are all things that residents of this town take very seriously,” he said.
Sheppard told councillors to keep in mind that this survey was conducted during NOTL’s “peak season” for tourism.
“Many times what happens is on social media or at protests, we hear these complaints. But what we have here before us is an empirical, well-researched report that is accurate,” Wiens said.
Going forward with budgeting, it is important for councillors to know what residents are thinking and the report helps lay that out, Wiens said.
The data also fits in nicely with the towns strategic plan, he said.
Coun. Wendy Cheropita agreed, particularly as the data relates to the Shaw Festival and investing in tourism.
“The study is so relevant for our discussions in the future when the tourism strategy comes to council. It would be good to sort of link the two of them,” she said.
The research illustrates the divide between new residents and generational NOTLers, Coun. Tim Balasiuk said.
“I think this is a perfect example. We have certain residents in NOTL who are generational with lineage that has been here for a very long time,” he said.
But the majority of residents have moved here after being tourists and moved here because of the amenities the town can offer via tourism, Balasiuk said.
