Fifteen hundred delegates are meeting this week in Edmonton, Alberta to attend the 48th Rendez-vous Canada and whilst it’s been a massive effort to put the event together it brings great benefits to the local economy.
“We’re so grateful to host this is because of the economic value to Edmonton. It brings in about $5.3m ($5.8m AUD) of economic impact to the city.” Tannis Gaffney, Chief Marketing Office of Travel Alberta told Traveltalk.
“We also organised the biggest pre familiarization tour prior to the trade show that a province and a city have been able to put together. That was over 22 tours, over 250 buyers from 17 countries. The ability to host the travel trade and media from around the globe before the convention is actually priceless, because now that you’ve experienced the destination, you’ve experienced the personality of the place, which is another thing that we really love to talk about.”
We asked Tannis why Australian travellers should visit Alberta over another state or territory in Canada.
“Australians are already visiting Alberta in the winter. There’s a lot of Australians that are working at the ski hills which we welcome from a labour perspective. They already know the hidden gem that this place is. Winter is a really great time to come, it’s our low season.
We love about that Australian visitors tend to stay longer. I think that out of all our international markets, they stay the longest.
Alberta is one of the best places in Canada to come for winter because of the diversity of the products and experiences that we have. We call it winter warm. You can stay in castles in the Rockies, you can experience the warmth of hot springs and outdoor tubs.
We want to share the magic of winter with all our international visitors, it’s kind of the secret season here.”
RVC is being held in Edmonton, the capital of Alberta. Edmonton is known as the festival city and hosts festivals all year round including the ice carving competition, the byzantine winter festival and the Flying Canoë Volant all held in January. Edmonton is also home to an extensive park system along the Edmonton River valley, West Edmonton mall; the largest mall in the world and Fort Edmonton Park, a living history museum which takes visitors back in time to experience life in Edmonton during different historical periods, from the fur trading era to the 1920s.
More than 400 buyers and media from Destination Canada’s key markets are here to meet with over 900 tourism industry delegates from more than 482 Canadian organizations. There are delegates from 16 of Australia’s travel companies. Over the three-day conference more than 55,000 one-on-one appointments will be held as well as exclusive breakfasts and networking opportunities enjoyed by attendees.
