Canada
Ambassador programme
The Edmonton All In Ambassador
Programme partners with local industry
experts to bring conferences to the city.
Eligibility for the programme is as
follows:
• Out of Town Delegates: minimum 300
• Conference Days: minimum two days
• Venue: either Edmonton Convention
Centre or EXPO.
Delegates can also ride Edmonton’s
public transit for free during their event
days just by showing their conference badge/credentials.
Edmonton’s Conference Services team
offers to be a point of contact to introduce
organisers to the city’s best vendors and
authentic experiences that can take your
conference to a whole new level.
International programmes can also
qualify for a GST tax rebate and
organisers are urged to investigate the
Foreign Convention and Tour Incentive
Program (FCTIP), designed to attract
foreign conventions and groups to
Canada.
Calgary’s
conference
investment
stampede The expanded BMO Centre will, in
the process, double the rentable space it
currently has. The work will also be
supplemented by a new hotel development
on Stampede Park.
Calgary will also be seeing a new
$550m event and entertainment arena in
East Victoria Park in 2024, with the deal
signed off in December 2019.
The Event Centre will be a catalyst for
redevelopment in the Rivers District and
an anchor for a public festival street. It
will become a new home to the Calgary
Flames, Hitmen and Roughnecks and
attract world-leading performing artists
and major events. The Event Centre will
replace the Saddledome, the current home
of the Calgary Flames, which was built
for the 1988 Winter Olympic Games.
The total projected returns to the city
algary is investing
CAD$1bn in its meetings
and conventions offer.
The BMO Centre at
Stampede Park, Calgary’s largest
convention space, is undergoing a massive
$500m expansion, to be completed in
June 2024. It will transform the venue
into the second largest convention centre
in Canada (behind Toronto).
Meetings Mean Business Canada
The Meetings Mean Business Canada (MMBC) Board
continued its mission to advocate the importance of
business events to the Canadian economy, by travelling
to Parliament Hill in Ottawa, 3-4 February, for Lobby
Days 2020.
The event was led by the Tourism Industry
Association of Canada (TIAC) and MMBC Chair Clark
Grue, Vice Chair Laura Pallotta, Past Chair Heidi
Welker and other coalition supporters all attended to
advocate the importance of meetings and business
events to the Canadian economy.
The MMBC leadership participated in a number of
one-to-one meetings with government ministers and
Grue also presented the importance of meetings and
business events during a TIAC Board of Directors and
stakeholders luncheon.
Grue commented: “We had a great few days in
Ottawa… Considering that business travellers
contribute four times the spend than that of a leisure
traveller and that meetings stimulate over one-third of
tourism in Canada, everyone we spoke with received the
message that meetings and business events are an
enormous opportunity for the Canadian economy and
communities.”
A Global Economic Impact Study cited that in 2017,
business events accounted for $33bn direct spending,
$19.4 direct GDP generated and accounted for 229,000
direct jobs.
To learn more about MMBC, the single advocacy
voice of the meetings industry in Canada, visit:
www.meetingmeanbusiness.ca
is estimated at $400.3m.
Calgary’s other convention centre, the
Calgary TELUS Convention Centre, is
located on Calgary’s pedestrian walkway,
Stephen Avenue, which will be going
through a major facelift beginning this
year.
Calgary’s main vertical markets are
Energy, Technology, Agribusiness and
Manufacturing and some successful
international conferences in Life Sciences
took place in Calgary in 2019, including:
• Sigma International Nursing
Research Congress
• International Society of Biomechanics
2019 Congress.
Left: Peace Bridge,
Calgary
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