Tourism insiders and keen news readers will have no doubt seen Tourism Calgary’s aggressive plan to double the city’s tourism economy from $2.9 billion in 2024 to $6 billion by 2035.

Much of the topic of Tourism Calgary’s AGM on May 27 was about the march towards it becoming one of the largest economic sectors in Calgary.

Tourism Calgary CEO Alisha Reynolds said that as part of that, the goal of the AGM and the following fireside chat was to build the kind of passion and leadership required to make that growth happen.

“It’s going to take continued investment from all orders of government and from our community. Our partners have incredible ideas. The sky is not even the limit for where we can go as an industry,” Reynolds said.

“We want to embed passion and opportunity in every person who joins us at the AGM today. Every person who partners with us throughout the year, and for them to see that there’s exponential growth opportunity here.”

Although the visitor spending in 2024 saw a 10 per cent increase over 2023, the goal still admittedly remains a stretch one.

Part of the longer-term outlook for tourism is set to come from new strategic planning being undertaken by the organization, and from increased awareness campaigns.

The Dundas transit takeover in Toronto by Tourism Calgary was one of the successful campaigns that leveraged the new Blue Sky City slogan for Calgary.

“Blue Sky City is an opportunity for Calgary to set a new course for itself as a community. We are activating this campaign all throughout the city, and now running campaigns throughout the country and beyond, and people resonate with Blue Sky City,” said Reynolds.

The Toronto campaign showed preliminary results that saw high-90s per cent of Ontarians exposed looking for more information and visitation considerations at near 75 per cent.

Results from MasterCard have also shown that Calgary is seeing an increased share of visitors from the US and Canada, calculated by the number of total bookings from 2024 to 2025.

“It feels really gratifying to see all of our belief in Calgary now resonating with people across the country. Tourism Calgary’s job is to market our city, to believe in our city passionately, as we share locally, nationally and internationally,” said Reynolds.

“It’s really important for Calgary to share a message around diversification. Blue Sky City is exactly part of that message of diversification, tourism is an incredible part of the economy.”

Partners playing a big role in growing the economy

Calgary’s tourism industry also saw an increase in the number of partners in 2024 to 1,122.

Tourism Calgary also signed 50 joint marketing agreements with international tourism operators to bring visitors to Calgary.

The majority of those, some 8.4 million, came by air.

Chris Dinsdale, CEO of the Calgary International Airport Authority, said that YYC was playing a big role in ensuring that visitors have a good experience coming to and then leaving the city.

“Almost everyone who’s a tourist flies into into Calgary, and so if you come and that front door is not what it should be and you have a bad experience, or when you’re leaving, you’re having a terrible experience, or you’re missing flights, or whatever, that’s going to taint your view of the city,” Dinsdale said.

“I think we’re a good airport. Could we be better? Yeah, and we’re working on it. We’re always working on it. I think it’s really important, and, of course, we play a bigger role, too.”

He said that several major deals have been made, and the increased number of routes is indicative of the work being done to get more people to Calgary.

Dinsdale said improvements at the airport’s domestic terminal were a primary focus for 2025.

The financial position of Tourism Calgary is strong

In 2024, Tourism Calgary brought in more than $25 million in revenue, with 51 per cent of that coming from the Calgary Hotel Association and 41 per cent from the City of Calgary.

Some $3.2 million in funding was for the Winter Special Olympics, while the year also saw an end to the $1.7 million in income support from Tourism Alberta that was given as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re responsible for marketing Calgary to the world, and the budget of our organization last year, having been $25 million allowed us to do a really great job. We’re going to see that continue to grow as the interest in Calgary continues to grow,” said Reynolds.

“We’re in a really strong position, financially, grateful for our partners and our industry, the whole community coming together to support what we do, and looking forward to seeing our growth story continue to be able to do this wonderful work.”

Tourism Calgary has also made financial commitments of $11 million over the next five years to support agreements made with organizations to host their events in Calgary.

The City of Calgary is funding those projects with $5.6 million, the Calgary Hotel Association through $3 million, and other program grants through the remainder.

“I look ahead and see our team working so hard every day to bid on meetings and conventions, sports, culture, major events, and we’re now seeing bids out to 2033, so the pipeline is looking solid. People are looking at Calgary as a place to host, and our community is rallying around to make sure that we do an incredible job with every piece of business and every guest that comes to visit us,” Reynolds said.