“A bright future:” Tourism Calgary feeling hopeful after COVID-19 devastation

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – The BMO Centre expansion project is the light at the end of the tunnel for Calgary’s hard-hit tourism industry.

Tourism to Calgary – like most cities around the world – suddenly came to a halt this spring due to COVID-19. The pandemic forced the closure of restaurants and hotels, and the cancellation of international flights and public events.

Now Tourism Calgary is hoping the BMO Centre’s expansion can jumpstart the industry. The designs for the $500-million project were unveiled Wednesday.

“This poor industry has just been hammered,” said Cindy Ady, CEO of Tourism Calgary. “And it’s not over yet. We’re still kind of going through it. And we’ll be going through it for a while. But I can now point to them and say, you see that, that’s going to open in 2024. We build towards that.

“This is a bright future.”

The investment will help modernize the convention centre with the goal of attracting major, international conventions to the city. The expansion will more than double the facility’s current rentable area, making it the second largest in Canada.

Ady says the project will completely revitalize Calgary’s entertainment district and put the city “on the map.”

“When you think about the combination of a tier-one convention centre with all the flavour that Calgary has … we suddenly become a very big competitive force out on that landscape,” she said. “And I know other cities have put us as their No. 1 risk in the future.

“I like being someone’s No. 1 risk.”

RELATED: Councillors question the need for two convention centres

The Calgary Tourism executive says preliminary construction work is already underway, with a target completion date of June 2024. Ady believes this is the perfect project to relaunch the wounded tourism sector.

“During these kinds of times, actually having big projects be able to come online when costs aren’t super high, when construction is needed, when jobs are needed, it’s the right time to build. It actually is the best time to build.”

Built in 1974, the BMO Centre’s last upgrade was in 2000. It currently has 122,000 square feet for convention space, 47,000 square feet of exhibit space and 36 meeting rooms.

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