Back-to-back conventions bring thousands to Winnipeg
Thousands of people will be getting a taste of Winnipeg as several large conventions run back-to-back over the next two weeks.
Starting on Wednesday, the city will be hosting more than 5,000 delegates at the Centrallia 2016 convention, Liberal Party of Canada 2016 Biennial Convention, and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Annual Conference and Tradeshow.
"Winnipeg welcomes on average around 54,000 convention delegates annually — it's the first time in the last decade that we've seen this many delegates come through the city in such a short time span," Chantal Sturk-Nadeau, senior vice-president of Tourism Winnipeg, said in a release.
Between the three conventions, Tourism Winnipeg estimates delegates will directly spend around $5.3 million on things like hotels, shopping, and dining.
On average there are 4.5 million visitors to Winnipeg. They spend over $600 million on accommodations, dining, transportation, recreation, shopping, and entertainment, according to Tourism Winnipeg.
There has been extra effort to attract conferences through the Bring it Home program, which teams Tourism Winnipeg with leaders, board members, and decision makers across the county to bring conferences to the city, the release said.
"The meetings and conventions market is highly lucrative, as a delegate spends four times as much as a leisure traveller does," Sturk-Nadeau said.
