Greetings!

Read about a successful Q3 and #LoveYYC Day results, our Alto Award win, upcoming events and our featured Calgary White Hat Award winners.
Q3 Destination Report
Download the full report to learn about:

  • Calgary's record setting quarter for the number of hotel rooms sold in July, August and September - up 5.9, 9.1 and 9 per cent, respectively, over the same months last year. The year-over-year increase has resulted in an additional 72,779 hotel rooms sold in the third quarter (19,711 in July, 27,509 in August and 25,559 in September 2017).

Marketing
  • Regional, national, and U.S. focused marketing efforts, the redevelopment of visitcalgary.com and a new approach to public relations.

Travel Trade
  • Promoting Alberta as a year-round destination and raising Calgary's international awareness with the goal of capturing a larger slice of what Destination Canada estimates is $196,600,000 in economic impact for Alberta by 2022.

In-Destination Services
  • Winning two tourism industry awards for the team's innovative mobile information strategy and the Calgary Frontline Experience Pass.

Sport, Culture & Major Events
  • Hosting major sporting events including the 2017 Shaw Charity Classic, which had record attendance and a successful bid for the 2019 Special Olympics Alberta Winter Games.

Stakeholder Engagement & Destination Development
  • Sharing Calgary’s stakeholder-led Destination Strategy with over 50 partner organizations and creating opportunities for implementing the Destination Strategy.
Tourism Calgary wins an Alto Award
Tourism Calgary was recognized with an Alto Award for the Calgary Frontline Experience Pass at the 17th annual Travel Alberta Industry Conference. The pass
encouraged frontline workers to become better ambassadors for Calgary by giving them free access to attractions and tours. With enhanced knowledge of the city, frontline ambassadors are better equipped to speak enthusiastically about Calgary experiences and be ultimate hosts. This year’s Calgary Frontline Experience Pass was a successful collaboration between 18 attraction and tour partners and was distributed to over 1,500 frontline ambassadors, who redeemed their passes for over 2700 experiences.

Congratulations to Travel Alberta for hosting such a successful conference. 

Go Media

We are really excited to partner with Travel Alberta to host Go Media Sept. 30 – Oct. 4, 2018.

We look forward to showcasing the best of our city and province together and again showing the world that we are ultimate hosts. 
Upcoming events
Nov. 27 – Dec. 23 : Lunchbox Theatre : The Santaland Diaries : This play is based on the comedic book by David Sedaris about his experience acting as an elf in Macy's.

Nov. 30 : Team Canada vs. Okotoks Oilers : As a lead up to the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, the Canadian Women’s Olympic Hockey Team will be playing a series of games to prepare for international competition.

Dec. 1-31 : Downtown Association Northern Reflections Window Exhibition : Buds of Buds: will debut a series of windows painted by local artists throughout Calgary’s downtown core. With a mobile phone app called, Augle, viewers can engage with each art piece through augmented reality.

Dec. 7-10 : BMO Centre, Stampede Park Festival of Crafts : More than 250 artisans from across Canada — find clothing, food, artwork, glassware, bath products and more for everyone on your Christmas list. 

Dec. 14-15 : Fort Calgary Murder at Mistletoe Mall : Join us at the Christmas celebration that promises mistletoe, madness and murder. 

Thanks for sharing the love
On Nov. 4 Calgarians were encouraged to explore the city and share their love online during the second annual #LoveYYC Day . Thank you to our partners for creating compelling offers and joining the online conversation. The success of this day is dependent on partner participation and contributed to over 2,766 posts on Instagram and Twitter on Nov. 4. From Oct. 1 - Nov. 5, the #LoveYYC landing page on visitcalgary.com had 33,678 unique page views, up 17 per cent from last year with the average time spent on the page being over eight minutes, a 257 per cent growth from last year!

#LoveYYC Day also garnered media coverage in the six days leading up to and on Nov. 4 with 18 stories being published, some of which include: Global News , Metro News , 660 News and 98.5 Virgin radio .

Tourism Calgary also caught up with a few Calgarians to discover why they #LoveYYC.
Nominations are open for the 56th annual Calgary White Hat Awards!

 Do you know a Calgary ambassador who consistently provides excellent service? Nominate someone in the tourism and hospitality industry today .

Featured Calgary White Hat Award winners:

We recognize Rick Tulsie and Kalin Desrocher, Calgary White Hat Award winners, for creating memorable visitor experiences.
Rick Tulsie, Calgary Sports & Entertainment Corporation
Mayor's White Hat Award

Rick makes memorable moments – and sometimes lifelong friends – with his guests. An example of this includes a delighted family from Belgium who had the Scotiabank Saddledome on their Calgary itinerary, only to find out that tours are not held on game days. Rick overheard the conversation, encouraged them to purchase Flames tickets for that night, and arranged to meet them before the game. He greeted the family with Flames scarves, escorted them to their seats and returned after the game to personally tour them around the arena. The family wrote a letter of thanks, saying the experience was the highlight of their Western Canada vacation. 

Congratulations Rick, you are an outstanding ambassador for Calgary. Wear your White Hat with pride. 
Category sponsor:
Kalin Desrocher, Calgary Sports & Entertainment Corporation
Exceptional Service: Non-server

Customers and colleagues alike recognize Kalin for his service ethic. As a member of the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation, his job includes everything from hosting to serving beverages – to breaking up fights. During a spirited sporting event a fight occurred and Kalin immediately broke it up, ensuring the safety of his team and guests.

For his efforts, he received praise from on-site police as well as his supervisor. Bravo, Kalin. You do Calgary proud.
Category sponsor: 
See offer details, industry news, job postings and event information at:

Do you have an event coming up for Christmas or New Year's Eve? 
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