CALGARY The Calgary Stampede is going ahead on schedule this month, but guests and businesses are expected to notice a marked difference between this year s event and the last one, held prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials say they ve implemented a plan filled with enhanced sanitization procedures, distancing between guests and other health measures to protect against potential outbreaks. The event will also show how Calgarians are accepting the new reality of fewer health restrictions, tourism officials say. It’s going to be interesting to see because everyone is still finding their level of comfort with the restrictions being lifted and with the things and their vaccinations, said Cassandra McAuley, vice-president of communications and stakeholder engagement with Tourism Calgary.
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The Alberta government will invest an additional $22 million this year into the province’s tourism industry in an effort to help the struggling sector recover from a year of devastating, COVID-19-related financial losses.
The province’s latest budget commits $66 million over the next three years toward the plan, part of a goal to double Alberta’s tourism revenues by 2030. The hard-hit sector has been marked as a key piece of Alberta’s economic recovery plan, but its return to even pre-pandemic levels is heavily reliant on worldwide vaccine distribution and travel restrictions.
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