Bye-bye brick and mortar

PHOTO/COURTESY Old Sturbridge Village donated the space for the Sturbridge Tourist Center, but foot traffic at the facility dropped steadily over the past eight years.

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By Sam Bonacci

On the back of an 80-percent drop in foot traffic and increased reliance on smartphones, the Chamber of Central Mass South has closed the Sturbridge Tourist Information Center. To those following the impact of this thing called the internet, it will be no surprise that a physical location has been outmaneuvered by the likes of smartphones and websites, but this closure marks the widening reverberations of the web's jolt.

The consequences of the tiny computer in everyone's pockets is now being felt by the tourism industry, with organizations looking to capitalize on the change.

Is there an extra decimal in that foot traffic drop?

Unfortunately for the fate of the visitors center, no. The people using the center on Route 20 in Sturbridge has fallen from 26,000 a year in 2008 to under 5,000 this year. In the last weekend the center was open, Halloween weekend, only five people came through on Saturday and Sunday combined, said chamber Executive Director Alexandra McNitt.

With these metrics in mind, the three organizations that had been contributing to the center decided to disband it, McNitt said. The weekend staffing had been paid for by the town of Sturbridge, with the space donated by Old Sturbridge Village and the chamber operating the center during the week and maintaining the location that also served as the organization's office.

“We all came to the same conclusion that it didn't seem that amount of expense was justified at this point in time with cell phones being so ubiquitous,” McNitt said. “They're expensive cost centers. So unless you have some golden piggy bank that is willing to make that sort of investment it is not feasible for the number of people that are utilizing them.”

Doubling down on digital

When Discover Central Massachusetts, a regional organization pushing for tourism in the area, was formed a little over a year ago, digital was always going to be an important first foot forward, said President and CEO Christina Andreoli

“Clearly, digital is the wave of the future. People are on their phones. People are on their computers, their laptops and their iPads,” she said

While there is still value to traditional media such as tourism pamphlets that the organization prints out, she said, the organization's new website set to launch later this winter has a multitude of ways of letting people know what the organization and Central Massachusetts is all about and how to enjoy a visit. Unlike a visitors center that could serve this role, the new website can help people create their own itineraries from home before they even venture into the area, and articles written for the website help highlight the area and draw more traffic.

Beyond brochures and restrooms

In the end, numerous people were stopping in to the Sturbridge visitors center because of the restrooms, said McNitt. They would then come in to look at a brochure or get some additional information. The same was the case for many now defunct state-run visitors centers, said Andreoli. She believes there is a role for visitors centers, but much like libraries are being forced to be more than books, these centers must offer something else in the digital age.

“It cannot be brochures and bathrooms. It needs to be reimagined and a place people can convene,” Andreoli said.

She highlighted the work going on with the Worcester Blackstone Gateway Visitor Center, to be a part of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor. That facility is being designed from the ground up to host events at meeting facilities and classrooms as well as having incorporated recreation space such as trails and a theater. With these additions, a visitors center can be engaging and move beyond the brochures.

Continuing to serve Sturbridge

Just because there won't be a physical location on Route 20, it doesn't mean that the Chamber of Central Mass South won't be doing outreach. It will continue to do all its digital outreach as well as mailing information as requested, said McNitt, and encourage visitors to head to chamber member businesses.

The new location will also benefit the members of the chamber as the 46 Hall Road location will feature a fully equipped board room as well as a member work station that can be reserved for use by chamber members, who are between meetings or appointments.