Alberta Day was the chance to showcase the province to to the rest of the world during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, and while the City of Calgary took advantage of the opportunity, Edmonton's tourism department says it didn't see it as a huge opportunity to promote Edmonton.
The City of Edmonton came under fire after it appeared that Calgary was much better represented at the Alberta Day event at BC Place Stadium on Wednesday. Calgary chose to fly down volunteers to hand out cowboy hats and Stampede swag in an effort to lure visitors, but Edmonton was hardly represented.
The lack of representation now has many looking for answers, including some city councillors.
"I can't blame Calgary for doing a good job, now we have to see what we did on our end in not being comparable," said councillor Tony Caterina.
The Edmonton Economic Development Corporation (EEDC), responsible for the Edmonton's tourism, says it simply didn't see the event as a priority.
"We have hundreds of opportunities to market Edmonton from a tourism standpoint each year and we have to be very careful how we spend our money, so did we think that was a huge opportunity this year? Not really," said EEDC President Ron Gilbertson.
The department chose to instead spend $20,000 to send two representatives to speak mainly with tourism officials and travel journalists aboard the Alberta Train.
"Given the nature of the event we couldn't justify making a major marketing investment in it because quite frankly the Vancouver Olympics are about the Vancouver Olympics," said Gilbertson.
However Calgary's Mayor Dave Bronconnier says Calgarians saw it as a prime opportunity to capture the attention of the world.
"We promote our city, we promote our province, we promote our country and that means handing out cowboy hats, having the queen and princesses out there and saying come on to Calgary and have a good time," said Mayor Bronconnier during a radio interview with CHQR in Calgary.
The Alberta Train is part of the province's $6.6-million marketing plan, to promote the province as a tourism hotspot to international businesses, visitors and special guests during the course of the 2010 Winter Games.
The province has reserved at least two trains to run between Vancouver and Whistler during the 2010 Winter Games. The Rocky Mountaineer trains are the only public transit alternative besides bus services.
With files from Scott Roberts













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