Bower Ponds (rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Alessia Proietti

World Tourism Day: September 27

Red Deer Tourism on goal to become major events destination among Canadian mid-sized cities

Sep 27, 2023 | 10:40 AM

For World Tourism Day, Red Deer Tourism says they are continuing towards their goal of becoming the top major events destination by 2030 among mid-sized cities in Canada.

September 27 is World Tourism Day, created by the United Nations World Tourism Organization in 1980. This year’s theme is “tourism and green investment”.

While Red Deer Tourism is not hosting any particular celebrations for the day, they reflected on the various events and attractions the city has offered over the past year and for the months to come.

“We don’t just look at tourism for one day a year, and I appreciate that there’s a day specifically dedicated to it, but we really do eat [and] breath [it]; this is all we do. We do tourism,” said Jesse Smith, new Chief Executive Officer at Red Deer Tourism. “Everyday, staff and I are working constantly on tourism related initiatives and events and showcasing Red Deer and the region locally, provincially, nationally and internationally.”

Smith said the city and county have held various large events, attracting visitors from across the region, with the Red Deer Regional Airshow in July, and nationally for the Men’s National Baseball Championships at Great Chief Park (4707 Fountain Dr.) in August.

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He added the summer has attracted tourists with the new Canyon Coaster and Tubing Slide at the local ski hill and with festivals like CentreFest, among others.

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Large events take months of planning, Smith said when speaking of upcoming shows like the Powwow Times International Gathering this October and the Canadian Finals Rodeo in November.

It was also recently announced that next year, Red Deer will be the host of the Grand Slam of Curling 2024 Co-op Canadian Open.

READ: Jocelyn Peterman, Kevin Martin raise hype for coming Grand Slam of Curling in Red Deer

And relating to this year’s World Tourism Day theme of green investment, Smith says Red Deer’s locally known gem that visitors can discover are its beautiful river valley and trail system. He says the city has much to offer for their size, strategically located between two major centres, away from the bustling traffic.

Recently added to his position as CEO, Smith says their organization has been working hard to achieve the goals of their new business plan, which includes focusing on tourism marketing, to become the voice of the Red Deer region as a destination, and destination development, building community-wide capacity to ensure the city can support the increase in tourism with available hotels and amenities.

He says they have been working with members, event organizers and partnering communities to ensure proper promotions, including through their new and frequently updated website.

While Travel Alberta has an Economic Impact Calculator to collect data for how events impact the community, Smith says Red Deer Tourism is also looking into new data collection processes to tell a more in-depth story of the true impact of tourism.

“[Tourism] is not just a sector; it drives economic benefits, there’s environmental benefits, there’s community benefits, it creates jobs, there’s revenue generation, it supports local businesses, hotels, restaurants. So, it’s a lot bigger than just getting people into our community and checking out these events; it has a real rippling impact throughout the community and the region,” he said.

According to the Government of Alberta, there were 1.2 million visitors to Red Deer in 2022 from across Canada (including Alberta), spending nearly $240 million. This is still picking up to pre-pandemic levels as in 2019, there were 1.7 million visitors spending around $253 million.