Gift cards boosting Sarnia-area businesses to continue

A gift card initiative launched initially to help Sarnia-area tourism businesses weather the financial storm during COVID will continue in 2025.

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Tourism Sarnia-Lambton said that since 2021 its Discovery Sarnia-Lambton gift card program has sold cards valued at more than $600,000, and helped hundreds of local businesses.

It began with a voucher program the tourism agency put together using one-time government funding during the pandemic to encourage residents to use local hotels, retail, restaurants and attractions while “exploring what’s in their own backyard,” said executive director Mark Perrin.

After the funding ran out the agency looked for a way to keep the concept going and the gift card program began in 2021, he said.

The Lambton County-funded tourism agency based in Point Edward sells $10, $20 and $50 cards that can be redeemed at more than 250 local businesses. A list of locations where the cards are accepted can be found online at discoversarnialambton.com.

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The cards can be purchased online or at the agency’s office at 1455 Venetian Blvd.

“One hundred per cent of the proceeds go to support local businesses,” Perrin said.

Tourism Sarnia-Lambton covers administration costs so there is no fee and the full-face value of redeemed cards is returned to the business where they’re used.

While it ends up being “a lot of administrative work” for the agency, “it’s well worth it,” he said. “We’re happy to keep it going.”

The program has grown more than initially expected and has been “one of the most successful supporting-local programs by a tourism organization across the country,” Perrin said.

Tourism Sarnia-Lambton estimates the more than $600,000 in card sold so far translate into spinoff economic impact of $4.4 million.

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That comes from users spending more than a face value of the cards at businesses, as well as when visitors use them to help pay for a few nights in a local hotel and also spend “a few hundred dollars” on fuel, restaurants and other services , Perrin said.

“We have some pretty unique stories,” including one where the agency received a call from someone in Japan last year ordering cards for family members living in the Sarnia area, he said.

It’s a program that “truly impacts” all of Lambton County, Perrin said. “We see those redemptions coming in from all corners of the county.”

Also, it’s designed to benefit local businesses, as opposed to other programs using commercial prepaid cards that can be spent buying online or at businesses outside of the area.

“It has to be spent locally,” Perrin said.

About 80 to 90 per cent of the cards purchased are redeemed, which is “very high” compared to the typical redemption rate, he said.

They have been popular with businesses to use for employee appreciation programs, as well as teacher gifts during the year, Perrin said.

“It really is that ultimate gift if you don’t know what to give someone,” he said.

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@ObserverPaulM

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