‘Don’t know where to go:’ Concerns grow over outdated regional tourism signs

It’s an issue that’s reportedly getting people lost and confused when they’re travelling throughout the region, with some raising concerns over outdated regional tourism signs.

Those blue tourism signs are located throughout the region, looking to encourage travel to local landmarks, including theatres, museums, businesses, and other destinations across Waterloo Region.

For Douglas Harding, the owner of Southworks Antiques in Cambridge, he said it’s been a battle for people to navigate around town, with many of those signs showing old, moved around, or even completely closed down destinations.

“I think it’s just a case of where the region didn’t pay any attention to removing signs that are no longer relevant,” said Harding. “I don’t know who’s really responsible for that, but there are a number of signs that point in different directions that businesses are no longer there in the region.”

He mentioned that his own business has been impacted, saying his antique store had previously been listed on a local tourism sign. When his business changed locations in 2016, though, nothing changed in the region.

“When they’re coming down, they remember us being there, they come down, and then they don’t know where to go,” mentioned Harding. “They know we’re still in business, but they didn’t know that we had moved to Water Street, and they were just following the signs. We would get calls saying, ‘Could you give me directions?'”

In response to the recent string of complaints, the Region of Waterloo issued a statement, saying those signs will only get changed once they’re told about it.

“The Region of Waterloo approves and installs tourism/destination signs when they are requested by organizations and businesses,” said the municipality in a statement. “The organizations are also responsible for informing the region about closures and the need for sign removal.”

That being said, Harding specified that he had indeed notified the region years ago as soon as his location had moved. He said it’s a problem that he is still working to bring up consistently.

“It’s something that we asked when we moved eight years ago, if they could change some of the signs, so that the arrows would point to our current location at Water Street. Nothing was done about it, so it’s been off and on for eight years, making queries every once in a while.”

Harding said he hopes the issues can be remedied soon for his own business’s tourism sign, along with the signs of other impacted or closed-down businesses.

The Region of Waterloo has said that anyone who notices any outdated regional tourism signs can reach out to its First Contact Centre at 519-575-4400.