Tourism Calgary unveils new multi-year plan with focus on conventions

Calgary council reconsidered its rejection of an affordable housing vote Wednesday. The proposal will be voted on again in the fall. (File photo)

Tourism Calgary has unveiled a new business plan spanning into 2026.

It's the organization's first plan in three years because of the pandemic.

Thursday, it welcomed over 200 industry partners to hear about four key areas of interest, including becoming a year-round event city, strengthening Calgary's reputation, building community and collaboration and elevating the city into an upper-tier convention city.

Tourism Calgary's CEO Cindy Ady said the hope is to attract more travelers to the city, particularly Americans.

"We look at cities in the U.S. like New York, California, Texas, they tend to be the places where we get the most visitors from so we've very much hoping for a restoration of those – of that traffic.

"And then," she added, "we'll go back into those traditional markets like Britain, France, obviously we're going to be looking at Mexico, because that the market that's been the most resilient in the comeback so far."

Ady said while international travelers only make up 25 per cent of overall visitors to Calgary, they represent 75 per cent of tourist spending.