The Bay of Quinte Regional Marketing Board (BQRMB) is a local board and joint committee of its member municipalities.
Founded in 1982 by the chambers of commerce of Belleville, Brighton, Picton and Trenton, it is now an incorporated not-for-profit public-private partnership designated as a Destination Marketing and Management Organization (DMMO).
It acts as a destination marketing and management organization, undertaking activities for the purposes of supporting tourism and resident attraction regionally, provincially, nationally and internationally on behalf of the paying partners.
“Promoting resident attraction to the city” means developing, advertising, funding, sponsoring or otherwise supporting or promoting any resident attraction projects, events, assets or products within the boundaries of The Corporation of the City of Belleville, insofar as so doing as directly or indirectly promotes and/or is beneficial to attracting residents to the City.
Member municipalities
As per policy created by the Board of Directors in fall 2017, BQRMB is only to market and advertise for the organizations that are stakeholders of the partners paying into the public-private partnership.
- Belleville
- Quinte West
- Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte
- Brighton
- Greater Napanee
- Quinte Home Builders Association
Members shall be notified in writing of the membership dues at any time payable by them and, if any are not paid within one (1) calendar month of the membership renewal date the members in default shall automatically cease to be members of the Corporation.
Past
- Quinte Accommodations and Attractions Association
- Quinte Home Builders Association and the Quinte Restaurant Association
In April 2017, the Bay of Quinte Tourist and Living Councils officially consolidated into the Bay of Quinte Regional Marketing Board (BoQ RMB), with the mandates of marketing tourism and resident attraction.
It has two separate mandates – Tourism and Resident Attraction/Living. These mandates are now fulfilled through contractual agreement.
Governance
Membership in the Corporation shall be available to municipalities, First Nations and not-for-profit corporations interested in furthering the Corporation’s purposes and who have applied for and been accepted into membership in the Corporation by resolution of the board or in such other manner as may be determined by the board. Each member shall be entitled to receive notice of, attend and vote at all meetings of the members of the Corporation.
- Subject to the articles, there shall be one class of members in the Corporation.
- The board shall be comprised of a minimum of three (3) and a maximum of twelve (12) directors.
- Paying members can appoint the individual they wish to represent their organization on the board, or allow for an election of approved candidates to fill the position.
- Each paying member has one seat.
- There shall be a minimum of one (1) at-large position made available to round out the skill set of the Board as needed.
- The number of at-large positions shall not exceed the number of positions held by paying partners.
- The directors shall be elected to hold office for a term expiring not later than the close of the annual meeting of members following the election.
As June 12, 2025 its members include:
- Ron Anderson, Municipality of Brighton
- Egerton Boyce, City of Quinte West
- Garnet Thompson, City of Belleville – Vice Chair
- Ogwari Brant, Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte
- Angela Hicks, Greater Napanee
- Tony Engelsdorfer, Quinte Home Builders Association
- Blair Gamble, At Large (accommodations sector) – Chair (General Manager – Hampton Inn & Suites)
- JP Lemieux, At Large (Producer – Cogeco Connexion)
- Laura Knegt, At Large (Owner – Connect Bookkeeping Professionals)
Policies and procedures
Bylaws
Meetings
Subject to compliance with the Ontario Not-For-Profit Corporations Act, meetings of the members may be held at any place within Ontario determined by the board or, if all of the members entitled to vote at such meeting so agree, outside Ontario.
- When and where are they held?
- Public access?
- Meeting minutes?
Members, non-members, directors and the public accountant of the Corporation are entitled to be present at a meeting of members. However, only those members entitled to vote at the members’ meeting according to the provisions of the Act, articles and by-laws are entitled to cast a vote at the meeting.
The board may appoint a day or days in any month or months for regular meetings of the board at a place and hour to be named. There shall be a minimum of six (6) regular meetings of the board per year. A copy of any resolution of the board fixing the place and time of such regular meetings of the board shall be sent to each director forthwith after being passed, but no other notice shall be required for any such regular meeting except if subsection 136(3) (Notice of Meeting) of the Act requires the purpose thereof or the business to be transacted to be specified in the notice. Executive or administrative staff of any member shall be eligible to attend regular meetings of the board, but shall not participate in deliberations or vote.
Work
- Take A Drive was our primary Omni Channel campaign through the year, generating over 2.5 million impressions and more than 42k physical entries to conversion zones (+31%), resulting in estimated spending of more than $3.79 million dollars (+10.5%) from Bay of Quinte advertising
- Up to 10% of a community partner’s MAT to their BIA (currently Belleville and Quinte West) for new or enhanced activities related to marketing, events, and activations.
- Promoting $500/night Airbnbs in downtown Belleville
- 2024-25
- $36k provided to the Belleville Downtown District for artwork and omni channel marketing, content, and event + installation activations.
- $8k provided to the Downtown Trenton BIA for content marketing management and strategy, photography, video
- Experiential Grants
- $5K Kenhte:ke Seed Sanctuary
- $2.5K Fawn Over Market
- $5K Brambleberry Farms
- WorkinQuinte.ca
- immigration.bayofquinte.ca
- Best of the Bay contest
- Bay of Quinte Film Office
- Film Office mailing list created with over 70 sign-ups
- First 6 film locations shot as part of locations database build
- First film project in Belleville generated an estimated $30k+ in economic activity with 30+ crew shooting over an average of 4 days
- Growing downtown Short Term Accommodations product
Golf in Ontario
Participation in Golf in Ontario, a multi-destination partnership marketing multi-day group packages, resulted in an estimated economic impact of over
$600k for our $15k investment with over 1,700 rounds booked and 700+ room nights.
2024-25
- Over 1,700 rounds booked
- Over 700 room nights,
- Over $600k in economic activity for our $15k investment
Golf is a primary product in the BoQ region because of our number of courses in close proximity + overall quality of courses. As well, golfers are strong spenders – typically staying multiple nights and visiting restaurants as their primary outlet for food.
Funding
In 2023, they signed a 5-year MOU with Belleville for $1.55 per capital per year.
In 2023, its budget was $1M:
- The BQRMB acts as the Eligible Tourism Entity for the purposes of the Municipal Accommodation Tax. 75% of its funding comes from 50% of the total collected Municipal Accommodation Tax collected by its member municipalities. From Belleville:
- 2022 – $450,000
- 2023 – $500,000
- 2024 – $595,350
- 20% was funded by member municipalities at a rate of $1.55 per capita based on the 2021 Census. City of Belleville currently provides $86,900 annually to the Bay of Quinte Regional Marketing Board.
The BQRMB is also funded in part by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
Budget
Administration
Marketing
Business plan
Year end reports
Financial statements
Timeline
October 24, 2024 – Golf in Ontario program
- We hosted the Golf in Ontario provincial summit in Belleville last week, where destinations from across the province joined for multiple days of meetings, activities and golf
- This program is a multi-regional partnership across Ontario that aims to drive overnight golf package activity (participating courses = Black Bear, Trillium, Bay of Quinte, Timber Ridge, Roundel Glen)
- Bay of Quinte RMB invested $15k in this program this year and had very strong ROI for this investment Activity from April – October 2024
- Over 2,000 rounds booked (more than 1,500 of these were booked in Belleville)
- Over 700 room nights
- Estimated spending for April-October 2024 = over $600,000 (3,900% ROI for our $15k investment)
- We are outselling other regions 2 to 1
2023-24 results
October 2024 – 2024-25 Business Plan and 2023-24 results
- Addition of Briar Fox Golf Club to the package bookings as an additional option
- Over 1,670 rounds booked, accounting for more than $181k in golf spending
- Over 530 room nights, accounting for more than $114k in accommodations spending
- $150k in bookings made during winter for the 2024 season
- Over $650k in economic activity for our $15k investment
- Bay of Quinte is the top Golf in Ontario destination, outselling all other regions
November 4, 2024 to March 30, 2024 – GET FREE GAS campaign
to help drive multi-overnight stays during the shoulder season
- New leisure travel bookings of 2 nights get a $50 gas card. 3+nights get $100
- New this year, travelers with electric vehicles will receive the equivalent in Quinte Mall gift cards
- This program is only for accommodations remitting Municipal Accommodation Tax (currently Belleville and Quinte West only)
