Mayor says being selective is key for sports tourism in Charlottetown

Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee says he's proud of the city's success with sports tourism events.

He and other mayors from across the country are at the 2017 Sport Events Congress in Ottawa.

Lee is looking forward to learning how other cities host events, although he said Charlottetown should be selective about the events it holds.

"I'm not prepared to put taxpayers' unlimited dollars on the line to bring events into Charlottetown," he said. "I think we need to recognize what our strengths are. I think we need to recognize what our weaknesses are. And If we can't successfully host an event in Charlottetown, or we have concerns about how successful the event would be, then we would not want to bring the event into our city."

Lee pointed to the two NHL training camps the Dallas Stars held on P.E.I. as an example of the type of events the city has done well.

Contrary to popular belief, Lee said, Charlottetown and Summerside don't compete for events.

Rather, the two municipalitiesrecently signed a memorandum of agreement to cooperate more.

"There are some events Charlottetown can't handle on its own, and some events that Summerside can't deal with on their own," said Lee."So rather than say P.E.I. won't host those events, we've come together to submit joint bids on certain events."

The City of Summerside also has representatives at the conference.

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