For many visitors, being given one of the symbols of the city’s hospitality culture—a white Smithbilt hat—is a unique honour and a way to celebrate in a proud welcoming tradition in Calgary.
But on May 14, it was the purveyors of hospitality themselves that got the honours during the annual Tourism Calgary White Hat Awards.
More than 1,600 attendees representing every facet of Calgary’s tourism and hospitality industry walked the red carpet and packed the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium to be recognized for making the city’s multi-billion dollar hospitality industry shine.
The winners from 20 award categories this year included representatives from the travel, sports and entertainment, hotel, and cultural industries, each selected from over 800 nominations made by industry peers.
“We have no success without those 1,600 people out there that we’re celebrating tonight. They represent the thousand partners that we have, but they’re the ones that deliver every day, and they actually tell the Calgary story by the work that they do,” said Cindy Ady, outgoing CEO of Tourism Calgary.
“They’re what makes us such a wonderful city.”
The 61st annual awards were the final one for Ady, who is set to step down from the role as head of Tourism Calgary at the beginning of June.
She said that over the past 11 years of involvement in the White Hat Awards, she has seen the impact that they have on the everyday people who make Calgary’s $2.9 billion tourism industry work.
“You will have the biggest hotels here and the smallest venue operators, and all the industry has an equal chance at a White Hat. They’re just on cloud nine to be recognized for the work that they do. I think if we ever lose the White Hat Awards, we’ve lost something too special.”
Calgary tourism industry growing by leaps and bounds
The 2024 awards also represented a major turning point in Calgary’s tourism and hospitality industry. The awards ceremony was held just days before the opening of Calgary’s Tier 1 convention centre, the BMO Centre, amid other major transformation projects designed to draw in international visitors and Calgarians alike.
Calgary Stampede CEO Joel Cowley, who attended the awards evening to cheer on the many staff members from his organization, also spoke about the BMO Centre opening.
“The BMO Centre expansion is really a game changer for Calgary’s visitor economy. Having that much space, and that much quality space, gives us the ability to host these major international conventions and events,” Cowley said.
“That will just up our game as far as hospitality and welcoming people to Calgary, and so I think you’ll see probably even more Calgary Stampede semi-finalists next year.”
Ady said that the industry has seen an unexpected resurgence, according to both experts and government.
“When the pandemic hit, they told us we were non-essential till they got stuck in their houses for two years, and then we became essential. We cheered a lot when I said that last year, but not only did we recover, but we drove it up another billion dollars. They were telling us we would not recover till 2025, and I said not only did we recover but we drove it a billion [dollars],” Ady said.
“To me it is the resilience of this industry. And the fact that day in and day out they do all the right things to make those guests feel special, that’s what I think Calgary does way better.”
Cowley said that making those guests feel good is a source of pride in Calgary.
“We actually have six volunteers, 36 Calgary Stampede staff members, and seven Cowboys Casino staff members as semi-finalists tonight. I went to a reception before this. And I told them that in my view, Calgary is one of the most hospitable cities on planet Earth and the Calgary Stampede is the epicenter of that hospitality. So this really means a lot,” he said.
“I can tell you it means a lot to them as well because we really pride ourselves on being accommodating and hospitable to our guests.”
Full list of the 2024 Tourism Calgary White Hat Award winners
Photos from the 2024 Tourism White Hat Awards
