From craft beer to adventure, major tourism conference touts Calgary's charms

Calgary will be in the spotlight this week as 2,000 delegates arrive in the city for a major tourism conference.

Rendez-vous Canada matches buyers and seller in a series of speed-dating-style appointments designed to get lots of deals done quickly.

Tourism Calgary CEO Cindy Ady says the event isan opportunity to showcase the city.

"We're actually taking them out on food tours and craft beer tours and adventure tours. I mean, they're seeing a whole bunch of different things in between the buy-sell piece which just familiarizes people with our area and what they can expect," she said.

"And so we get to show them all that Calgary has to offer and show them why it's a great idea for them to sell us."

Business or pleasure

Business travel accounts for about 25 per cent of Calgary's tourism sector, while formost citiesthat figure is closer to 11 per cent, Ady said.

So, aftera couple of lean years for business trips to Calgaryin the wake of the energy-sector downturn, Tourism Calgary has worked hard to make up some of the difference by attracting more leisure visitors.

There are signs that strategy is working, Ady told the Calgary Eyeopener.

"On the leisure side, we're seeing some really good positive indicators," she said.

The Asian tourism market has been growing since Hainan Airlines started direct flights from Calgary to Beijing last year, Ady says. There are 105 delegates coming from China to the conference, which runs May 9 to May 12 at the BMO Centre.

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener

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