In this episode of Karryon Podcast's Into the Hearts of Canada hosted by Matt Leedham, we head to Calgary, Alberta — Canada’s “Blue Sky City,” where western heritage meets modern energy on the edge of the Rockies.

Shaping the city’s tourism future is proud Calgarian, Alisha Reynolds, President and CEO of Tourism Calgary.

With fresh energy and vision, Alisha is guiding Calgary into its next chapter as a vibrant year-round destination.

Alisha’s insights and perspective are a must-hear for anyone curious about visiting Calgary and discovering more about community-led tourism in Canada.

Learn more about Calgary here

Into The Hearts of Canada is presented by Karryon, in partnership with Destination Canada.

Subscribe to Into The Hearts of Canada Podcast here

Visit: www.destinationcanada.com for more on Canada

Visit: karryon.com.au for more from Karryon

Presented by Karryon, Into the Hearts of Canada takes you beyond the guidebooks and into the heart and soul of one of the world’s most progressive travel destinations. Hosted by Karryon’s Matt Leedham, this 10-part series explores the people, places, and powerful ideas shaping the future of travel through a Canadian lens. From Indigenous knowledge-keepers and local changemakers to iconic landscapes and regenerative tourism pioneers, each episode offers an intimate conversation with the people reimagining what travel can be:

For the traveller, communities, and for the planet. Whether you’re a curious wanderer or a travel professional seeking fresh insights, this podcast invites you to see Canada with new eyes and an open heart.

Into The Hearts of Canada is presented by Matt Leedham and produced by Cassie Walker.

Mentioned in this episode:

Softer take

14/07/2025 edit

Softer take

14/07/2025 edit

ITHC midroll updated 14/07/2025

There's an incredible culinary vibe here.

There's an incredible arts vibe.

We have more than 80 events and festivals just downtown alone every summer.

You're in this oasis park called Prince's island park in downtown Calgary with the river flowing on both sides of you and it feels like this gorgeous enclave.

There's fire pits and there's Edison lights strewn through the trees.

An experience like that is uniquely Canadian.

It felt very Canadian.

There was even plaid blankets all over the place.

You really felt like you were immersed in a Canadian experience.

Welcome to into the Hearts of Canada, the podcast where we share the stories of extraordinary people transforming Canadian tourism.

I'm your host Matt Leadham, checking in from Byron Bay on Bundjalung Country, Australia's most easterly point.

Our journey today takes us to Calgary in Alberta, Canada's blue sky city, where western heritage meets modern energy on the edge of the spectacular Rockies.

Shaping the city's tourism future is proud Calgarian Alicia Reynolds, President and CEO of Tourism Calgary.

With fresh energy and vision, Alicia is guiding Calgary into its next chapter as a vibrant year round destination.

Alicia's insights and perspective are are a must here for anyone curious about visiting Calgary and discovering more about community led tourism in Canada.

Well, hello Alicia.

Thank you so much for joining us today on the podcast.

We're absolutely thrilled to have you here with us and the first question I always like to ask all of our guests is where are you checking in from today?

Hey Matt, it's Alicia Reynolds from Tourism Calgary and I am joining you today from Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Welcome to we are a big city with a small town vibe, big city energy, kind hospitality, amazing natural beauty and I'm looking out the window right now.

We're called Blue Sky City because we are the sunniest major city in Canada.

And true to form, it's a beautiful blue sky evening where I am.

Wow, it sounds absolutely beautiful.

You stepped into the role of CEO, role of Tourism Calgary just over a year ago now.

How has that been for you and what excites you most about the future?

For Calgary as a tourism destination, this.

Role has been an incredible gift.

Yes, it's been just over a year that I've been leading the team here at Tourism Calgary and it does feel like a gift.

I have always had a love for Calgary.

I've always had a love for connecting people.

And when you lead a destination management organization, really at the core of everything you do is building community and sharing your passion for a place, for a collection of experiences with other people.

So I wake up every day and feel super charged and grateful for the opportunity to get to share this special place in the world with everybody who comes through Calgary and everybody who has a dream to come to Calgary.

Our city is growing in a big way right now.

We have just over a million and a half citizens.

It's the third most diverse city in Canada.

Many people would know those who are listening with their experiences in Calgary as the gateway to the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

Every year particularly, we welcome hundreds of Australians and New Zealanders who come to work at world famous ski hills in the area and other hospitality experiences.

Some people might know Calgary from our world famous Calgary Stampede, named the greatest outdoor show on earth.

For over a hundred years we've been celebrating our western heritage as a community through the celebration of Calgary Stampede.

And so when I think about all of these things, the gateway to the Rocky Mountains, this incredible urban epicenter and the growth that's happening in Calgary right now, I just think about the opportunity to connect people and tell stories.

In the lead up to this, we were talking about COVID and it's still a word that nobody wants to talk about.

But the legacy and the tale of that has been long.

People are hungry, they're keen, they're eager to get out of their houses, to smell fresh air, to feel connected to people and to really feel something that connects them to one another and to the earth.

And so when I think about what really excites me regarding leadership of tourism Calgary, it's connecting people to this place and connecting people to a feeling through all that we have to offer here.

Yeah, that's beautiful.

Yeah.

I visited Calgary probably about 18 months ago now.

I got there and it was snowing like crazy.

We touched down at the airport, the snow was coming down, which was amazing for us, of course, coming from Australia especially.

And yeah, I was really, wow, blown away.

But of course nothing really, nothing really stopped.

Everything was just moving as normal.

It's kind of like, you know, this is what we do here.

Can you give us a bit of a sense on the varying seasons that you have there in Calgary?

Absolutely.

One of the greatest things about Calgary is that every day is going to be different.

They say if you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes.

So there's always something around the corner.

We dress in layers around here and we truly are the sunniest major city in Canada.

We get an average of 333 days of sunshine.

So that should be a visual picture that even in the depths of winter and we are a proud winter city, There's a Lot of sunshine, It's a lot of blue sky.

And it carries not only the natural beauty of blue sky but also the sense of optimism that unites everybody under our beautiful blue skies.

So we absolutely get four distinct seasons and sometimes we jest that those seasons are intermingled.

So we have a beautiful summer season, a gorgeous fall with these oranges and yellow colors.

Fall often is my favorite season.

That cooler, crisp weather that comes in amazing for hiking and biking and walks by the river.

There's tons of urban experiences.

Then we turn the corner into our winter season.

And winter has so much to offer from skating, cross country skiing, urban trekking and art walks that occur throughout the winter through downtown.

There's so much to experience.

We have.

I'll give a shout out to our signature winter experience which is Chinook Blast, an incredible festival that we have in January and February.

It's three weekends long, a celebration of arts and culture and all things that people love about being outdoors.

And we truly do embrace winter.

And then you turn the corner to the spring and then of course the birds start chirping and everything comes alive and it's just beautiful again to be outdoors.

But we've got year round experiences for everyone and I would say there's something to offer no matter what appetite for adventure folks have.

Wonderful, wonderful.

Now you mentioned before, of course, welcoming visitors to Calgary is really is what it's all about.

Your background is hospitality.

I noted that you worked a number of years in hospitality previously.

How has that helped shape your approach to leading tourism in the city?

Now I love that question because we all carry our own experiences forward in different ways and different roles.

And I had never been part of a destination management organization before and wasn't sure how those skills were going to translate.

It's turned out to be really natural.

If you love people, you love people.

Doesn't matter what seat you're in, what your title is, if you love people and you have a servant leadership style where you truly want to take care of other people that will morph and show up in any role that you have.

And so that's been my experience.

I've always loved to host people, love to bring people together, love to celebrate things that I'm passionate about and welcome others into the communities that I'm part of.

And in this case now I get to be the biggest champion and cheerleader for tourism and hospitality in Calgary, which is my home, where I raise my kids, where I've been married, where I've built my career.

It truly is one of those Blue sky city stories where everything comes together.

And I would say also Calgary has been voted the friendliest city in the world.

And so this is an opportunity for me to take what I loved in the hotels, whether it's making beds or greeting guests or offering somebody a great mocktail at the reception when they check into the hotel.

And I'll get to do that with an amazing team throughout all of Calgary.

So we'll pop up with our visitor services team at the airport.

We'll pop up at different iconic experiences through Calgary and we get to take those elements of warm Western hospitality that I've been fortunate to build throughout my career and express that love through all of Calgary.

So I love where I came from.

I loved growing up in the hospitality industry and serving others.

And now I'm fortunate to be surrounded by people who love doing that all day too.

That's fantastic.

It's fantastic.

Now let's touch on the Calgary Stampede.

100 years old, huge legacy, huge history, incredibly popular with Australians traveling over to Calgary, which I think in many ways, you know, it's perhaps the most famous piece.

How has the stampede evolved over the years and how does it sort of reflect Calgary's spirit, do you think?

The Calgary Stampede is iconic and core to the, to the experience of Calgary and it says so much about where we've been as a community and how we're evolving.

At its core, the Calgary Stampede is a celebration of warm western hospitality.

For more than 100 years, we've been welcoming people to this community for a signature 10 day festival in the heat and the heart and the sunshine of summer.

And it has evolved so much over time from a showcase of western heritage, fashion and design back a hundred years ago, the trading of cattle and competitions for, you know, different western riding events to today, all of those things and more.

It has evolved to a true global legend of a visitor experience from one of biggest music festivals in Canada.

This year we had more than 10 music venues activated throughout Calgary.

And this is not a festival that lives on one piece of land.

While that again is at the core and the heart of the experience.

The Calgary Stampede has done an incredible job building a bigger footprint throughout the entire community.

So it's now a festival for music, for food, for all sorts of action and adventure sports and, and you see it through everything in Calgary.

People ask us, am I getting punked when we pick them up at the airport?

And they say, should I really?

Like, I'm the CEO of an organization based in Toronto or New York or wherever else.

Should I really Wear jeans and cowls and cowboy hat.

And sometimes they show up at the airport in a suit on our way to pick them up to an event and we say no, no, we gotta go to Lamley's, we gotta go to Alberta, we gotta go to Smith Built hats and get you fitted out.

It's truly an experience that everyone in the community embraces.

And even for those who may not be into one particular aspect of the Calgary Stampede, there is so much to offer.

Whether it's like I said, food, music, art, an incredible wine festival, there's just this level of vibrancy and community spirit that you can't explain.

And you have to be here to experience.

Wow.

And as you say, so much of the community gets involved in this.

I mean it's not a, you're not a huge city in Calgary.

I imagine a large percentage, percentage of people really get involved in the Stampede itself over that entire duration.

It's a community takeover.

Everybody in Calgary leans in and celebrates the opportunity to showcase our city, to host people.

In addition to this incredible community spirit, a lot of business gets transacted too.

For people who are looking for a job, who are considering investing in a business, who are considering moving to Calgary, relocating their life, relocating their family.

It's an opportunity to connect with people.

And one of my colleagues, Deb Yedlin, the CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, reflected on the Stampede as this great equalizer.

You can have people who regardless of title, are dressed the same for 10 days and so you could turn around in a coffee shop or you could turn around in the beer line at an awesome tent and you could just bump into somebody who you never otherwise would have knocked shoulders with.

It's that re equalizer that puts everybody on the same fun footing for a 10 day period to really connect.

I love that.

Like the biggest dress up party going, isn't it?

Totally is.

And who doesn't look good in a cowboy hat?

Everybody looks cowboy hat.

When I came over to Calgary, I did go to Alberta Boots.

We did a behind the scenes tour and had a great look at how they make all the boots and wow, it was incredible to see that craftsmanship and you know, just the artisans at work and you know, I guess it's things you don't really think about that yeah.

Just really brought that whole story to life.

Yeah, it's really impressive and I like that you touched on that because we often talk about the Calgary stampede as this 10 day festival that has a $262 million economic impact over the 10 days it's actually more than a $500 million impact throughout the entire year.

Whether you're here for the 10 days or not, there's a way to experience Stampede flavor.

I would call out to listeners.

There's a great new experience called the SAM center right on the Calgary Stampede grounds.

So if you want to come to Calgary but you can't get here for those 10 days, you can go to a place like the SAM center and stand on a rumble strip and feel that power of the chuck wagons and the indigenous relay going past.

You can see the headdresses that have been worn by chiefs in the parades.

In the past we even had Shania Twain as our parade marshal.

And so there's little bits of history that get sprinkled through experiences for folks to experience year round.

Yeah.

How fantastic.

And Calgary is building a reputation now as a year round destination.

Can you touch on some of the more emerging or lesser known sort of experiences or events we should now?

Yeah, absolutely.

Starting at the foundational level, Calgary's infrastructure has grown a lot, which is enabling a lot of new types of experience.

As I said, we're a community of about 1.6 million people now.

And as we grow and our allure as a global destination grows, we need places to host people for all different reasons.

As we grow capacity.

We're a visitor economy that generates about $3 billion in visitor spend right now.

So we'll have time to unpack that.

That just goes to show where we are now versus where we're going to be ten years from now.

And that's going to build on a ton of investments happening in the community right now.

So if you haven't been to Calgary for a while, we have this great new space called the BMO Centre.

It's an expansion and now it's Western Canada's largest convention center.

That space is unbelievable.

It's the, as I said, largest in Western Canada and the second largest convention facility in the country.

We can host a lot of incred.

We also have Scotia Place, that is going to be the newest NHL arena in the league.

We have Arts Commons, that's going to be one of the largest performing arts venues in the country.

The Glenbow Museum, that's going to have the largest collection of indigenous art in Canada.

And the list goes on.

There is a lot to see and experience.

So when you ask about signature events, I just want to paint a picture for the listeners that as we continue to grow and evolve As a community, there are gonna be activations all throughout the community at these spaces that are building.

So in addition to Stampede, which is what we're very well known for, and the gateway to the Rocky Mountains, which we're very well known for, there's an incredible culinary vibe here.

There's an incredible arts vibe.

We have more than 80 events and festivals just downtown alone every summer.

Last night I was at the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival, which is this hilarious comedy act that roves around Canada.

Calgary is one of its standing spots.

You're in this oasis park called Prince's island park in downtown Calgary with the river flowing on both sides of you and it feels like this gorgeous enclave.

There's fire pits and you're laughing and there's Edison lights strewn through the trees.

An experience like that is uniquely Canadian.

It felt very Canadian.

There was even plaid blankets all over the place.

You really felt like you were immersed in a Canadian experience.

We have another event called GlobalFest which is a celebration, a global celebration of different cultures and communities, communities that have come together to live and celebrate in Canada.

And it's a huge fireworks festival that fun.

We have the Calgary Folk Music Festival which is again a celebration outdoors in a beautiful environment where people come together and just feel alive.

So I would say check out our website.

Visit calgary.com if you're planning a trip.

There's lots on there, including some great trip planning tools that'll help you figure out the perfect fit for your experience to Calgary.

Wow.

Sounds like you've got something going on pretty much constantly.

Absolutely.

One of our goals is to be a year round, eventful city and we know that to be true.

One of the opportunities we have is to share that with others.

There is something going on 52 weeks a year, whether it's arts and culture, culinary action and adventure.

There's something for everyone and we want folks to get here to experience that.

Yeah, that's great.

Now you've embarked on a ten year tourism strategy for Calgary focused on sustainability, community and creating a thriving visitor economy.

Can you tell us a bit more about this vision?

Absolutely.

As I said, we see huge potential for the visitor economy in Calgary.

In addition to being an economic powerhouse, opportunity for community to create jobs, to connect people.

There's a real community lift that happens when you build tourism.

And so when we were setting out on this opportunity to explain what a 10 year vision could look like for Calgary, we had a lot of fun talking about what the destination will look like 10 years years from now.

It'll have more direct Airline routes and plug.

We're already the most connected mid sized city in North America with more than 100 direct destinations in and out of Calgary.

That's powerful for a city our size of just over a million and a half people.

So we're really well connected.

But 10 years from now we'll be even more connected.

There's a lot of talk right now about a rail line that would connect downtown Calgary to Banff, that gateway to the Rocky Mountains.

That's a project, for example, that if we're successful as a community and building, would build year round visitation and it would also squarely fit with the sustainable way that we want to build travel.

And I know you've had Leslie on this podcast and we've had lots of conversations as a Bow Valley corridor community about ways that we can continue to attract tourism visitation in a sustainable way that really builds community.

So overall, our 10 year vision is to grow the value of the visitor economy from $3 billion today to $6 billion ten years from now.

More importantly, what does that and how do we get there?

Currently, even though Calgary's a year round city, we get 40% of our visitation between May and September.

There are a lot of times a year where we have capacity to host as a destination.

So those things that I had mentioned just a couple of minutes ago, around the BMO Convention Center, Scotia Place, Event Center, Glenbow Museum, Arts Commons, Contemporary Calgary, those will all be incredible experiences that offer something to do indoors for the winter and for the shoulder seasons as well.

Really looking at building out infrastructure that allows us to celebrate Calgary in all four seasons.

That year round pillar is a huge opportunity for us as a destination and at the same time we want to celebrate winter.

I talked about Chinook Blast.

It's going into its sixth year as our signature winter festival in Calgary.

It has awesome things, unique installations, events, festivals within it, an indigenous art market, things that bring a buzz around Calgary at a traditionally slower time.

As a destination, would like to see more of those types of experience build out to give people those unique, out of the blue incredible experiences no matter what season it is.

On the sustainability side, I'll build quickly.

We want to adopt sustainable practices within our visitor and tourism sector to create social benefit for our communities.

What at its essence does the movement of people do?

It creates real conversations, it opens People's hearts and minds to new experiences and new ways of being and doing and thinking and showing up.

So we know that there's an immeasurable social benefit to tourism.

We need to think about the impact that tourism has on the planet and ways that we can use tourism as a driver for good.

So we're really thinking as we grow and scale up, how do we do that?

In tandem with these sustainability goals, we're doing things like arranging free access in our meetings and conventions work to our C train.

Our C train, interestingly is 100% powered by renewable energy.

It is powered by wind.

So if we can move people throughout Calgary, which is often perceived as a driving city, through something that is 100% fueled by renewable energy, we're bringing visitors, but doing it in a respectful and sustainable way.

We also have real opportunity and a huge passion for supporting Indigenous tourism.

As settlers to this place, those of us who are non Indigenous, we need to listen to and amplify the voices of Indigenous people who have occupied these lands, who have had these lands as their homes since time immemorial.

So we've also entered a really exciting partnership with Indigenous Tourism Alberta where we have partnered to provide a million dollars to grow the number of Indigenous tourism experiences and to grow Indigenous entrepreneurship in this space to give people again those once in a lifetime, authentic, incredible experiences here in California, Calgary.

It's nice that you touched on that.

I was going to ask you about the Indigenous side of things and certainly when I was in Calgary, we experienced a couple of Indigenous led experiences which were amazing and told such a different story.

Again, are you seeing a rise in Indigenous tourism experiences in Calgary?

100% without question.

We see people coming to Calgary for all different reasons and almost unanimously while they're here, they're asking, can you please tell us the story of this place?

Where did this place get its name?

Name?

What is the Indigenous history and the true history of this place and in Canada?

I won't get too far into it, but the truth is painful.

There was settlement that happened in Canada that didn't ultimately create an opportunity for Indigenous people ways of living and practices to retain their strength over time.

There was a time where in Canada's history those voices weren't celebrated.

It was quite the opposite.

It now is not the time for that and we need to absolutely listen, listen to Indigenous voices, amplify Indigenous tourism experiences and understand again as settlers to this place that there is so much for us all to learn.

So I'm really proud of the number of Indigenous tourism Experiences here in Calgary.

I did an incredible art walk through Zukman Guiding, which was an Indigenous art walk led by an Indigenous artist, Mackenzie Brown.

She walked us through East Village in downtown Calgary, along the river and took us to the Confluence.

The Confluence is named that because it is the confluence of two rivers, the Bow and the Elbow river in downtown Calgary, which was the original home of the people who came to Calgary and made their lives in Calgary.

And so between things like that art walk, the Confluence Historic Site and parkland and some incredible work they're doing to elevate Indigenous voices and food.

Who doesn't love to connect history and understanding through food?

If you go to Little Chief Restaurant at Gray Eagle Resort and Casino, you'll have the best hamburger soup of your life.

And the Indian taco is unbelievable.

There's just so many requests for Indigenous tourism, so many great partners, entrepreneurs, creatives that are being elevated to tell their stories and a huge opportunity for people to come here and experience in authentic Indigenous ways the history of this Portuguese place.

Yeah, it's fantastic.

One of the things that we did was visit Heritage park, which is an amazing way to literally bring a story to life.

That was a fantastic experience.

I'm sure that is a huge draw card for visitors coming to Calgary.

It absolutely is.

The list is long when it comes to amazing Indigenous tourism experiences.

Absolutely.

At Heritage park they have had a buffalo exhibit that has been a real draw for visitors to learn the history of Calgary and the importance of the bison and the buffalo to Indigenous peoples and ways of life.

If you go to the Selkirk Grill at Heritage park, they have an Indigenous inspired menu that again, would knock your socks off.

And I think as a community we are doing a better job understanding what visitors want and that is authentic experiences and truth.

They want to know the story of Canada and they want to hear it from the original people of Canada.

And the Indigenous Tourism association of Canada has this really cool program called the Original Original, referring to Indigenous people who are the original Original.

And I hope when people come to Canada, they do experience the Original original, which is a full immersion in our culture and our history.

Though Messian spots.

There's a lot of learning and there's a lot of beauty in healing and listening and understanding and coming together.

Yeah, that's beautiful.

How would you describe the Calgarian spirit?

And you know, I guess what they contribute to visit that is arriving in Calgary and spending their time there.

Calgarians are at our core, very, very friendly.

I would say you come to Calgary and somebody is going to Open the door for you.

They're going to greet you with a really big smile.

I saw it when we were at the Calgary International Airport and we were welcoming 16,000 Rotarians from 140 different countries around the world.

We had music, we had volunteers, we had just amazing touches of hospitality from the moment people landed at the airport, offering them rides downtown, offering them great curated experiences.

You're gonna meet a really big smile, somebody who's probably over helpful because they wanna make sure that you have a darn good experience while you're in Calgary.

And people who will bend over backwards to make sure that you feel loved and connected and welcome here.

As I said, we were voted the friendliest city in the world.

And you don't get that temp pain.

You get that by being friendly, by showing visitors that warm western spirit.

Yeah, well, it's a wonderful accolade to have the friendliest city in the world.

Wow, that is a.

That is a big deal.

I think it's the one I'm most proud of because it also feels real.

That's what I experience when I go into work every day.

That's what I experience when I go get a cup of coffee, when I order a pizza.

That is what you'll experience throughout Calgary.

And so it's not one niche, one pocket of the community.

It's everybody here really wants to be kind to other people.

And that feels like the Canadian way.

Yeah.

Have you got other stories of how Calgary's tourism efforts have maybe positively impacted local businesses or the wider community?

What springs to mind for you?

There are so many.

I mean, I'll share a few examples.

One is an event that happened right before I joined tourism Calgary.

But I was still involved in my role as a hotelier in the community.

And that was the Special Olympics Canada Winter Games.

When you see a community come together to make people from all around the country again feel really loved and really connected and hosted warmly and well throughout the community.

With more than a thousand volunteers coming together, you really realize we're in the business of making people feel good.

And isn't that actually the best business to be in?

In a world that can be messy and chaotic and hard, we get to bring people together to play sports that they love to do, art that they love, to play, music that they love, to eat, food that they love.

The positive impact we have on community is bringing people together and the positive impact on local businesses.

When you host an event in your community, it's local businesses that benefit.

From the local photographer to the local catering company.

To the local venue.

The list goes on and on.

There's such a benefit and engagement within the community.

So that Special Olympic Canada Winter game really stands out to me because I continue to see the benefit of that having had a really vast and long lasting impact showing what's possible through tourism.

So I love that.

I think the other one on community transformation would be the power of the white Hat.

And I joked before that everybody looks really darn good in a white hat.

And that's true.

We want to be stylish and friendly.

So check those two boxes for Calgary, that white hat hospitality and the symbol of the white hat is also really powerful.

And that's the Calgary White Hat Awards.

And as a show of hospitality, all these 200 people had brought white hats and they left white hats with folks in Toronto to say, you will always be a friend of Calgary and you will always be welcome.

When you think about community impact and the legacy that had.

Fast forward to as I just explained, our Calgary White Hat Awards and that whole sense of White Hat hospitality, it's amazing.

So two things.

We have the Calgary White Hat Academy which is this award winning, free, first of its kind learning program where all frontline hospitality team members throughout Calgary get an opportunity to learn about Calgary's tourism industry.

They get tools and resources to be ultimate hosts.

So it's a curated training platform that tourism Calgary designed and it allows, allows people to not only bring that friendliness every day, but also a real knowledge of Calgary to help guests have amazing experiences while they're here.

And then building on that as I referenced is our Calgary White Hat Awards.

This is a huge celebration with almost 2,000 people that happens every year.

Tourism Calgary hosts it.

We received a thousand nominations this year and this is so cool because it's all frontline hospitality.

Work workers, which is often an area of life that is underappreciated and I've been there.

Cleaning rooms.

Yes, very much so.

Working in a kitchen.

They are amazing jobs that are often very, very underappreciated.

So tourism Calgary said, let's celebrate these people without them cleaning the hotel room.

There's no hotel room to sell without them working so hard in the kitchen to assemble, curate, dream up this incredible food.

Food.

There's no incredible food to eat.

So these people have direct daily contact with our visitors and we want to celebrate them, to tell them how much we care about them and how much they're appreciated.

So tourism Calgary hosts these White Hat awards.

We even have some cool categories like the mayor's White Hat awards.

And the mayor himself joined us.

And you should see the look on these people's face.

There's 20 categories.

These award winners come on stage in front of thousands of people.

Bright lights, amazing music, this winner's lounge.

It feels so Calgary to me to thank people for showing up, to thank people for loving others and to make sure that everyone feels special, including the people who serve others to make them feel special.

Wow, that's amazing.

I don't know that I've heard of kind of awards like that before, particularly on a large scale.

That is an incredible thing to be be doing.

Thank you.

It was not my idea.

But no matter who's been leading tourism Calgary, when the torch has been passed, these Calgary White Hat awards have been an essential facet that we've always wanted to continue.

And they've really transformed the industry to welcome people into the industry with a knowledge around how to serve guests and how to do it well Calgary style, which is that warm western hospitality all the way through to recognizing them and ensuring they know how incredible they are.

Yeah, and that's such an important point because I think particularly, you know, particularly after Covid, the industry at large globally has really struggled to bring people back to tourism for a variety of reasons.

And so having something like that as a beautiful platform to showcase, as you say, perhaps the people who don't necessarily get the.

The spotlight on them makes it so accessible.

And it must be such a driver aspirationally for.

For people to come into the industry.

You know, Matt, I love everything you just shared there.

And I'll say, if you're in Calgary and you look at people's name tags in frontline hospitality jobs, it is such a point of pride to be nominated for a Calgary White Hat award.

I bet.

I was just at our Calgary Saddle Dome, which was built in the late 80s for the Calgary Olympics, and I was greeted by an usher that was walking me in and it said, calgary White Hat award nominee.

And I stopped in my tracks and I shook his hand and I said, you must be so proud and he went on and on about how good it felt to be nominated for that award and how good it felt to be recognized.

And really in the center of all of us is a desire to feel loved and to feel like you're connected to people.

And when you within an industry that cares for others, pause to care for the people around you, it really promotes that sense of wellbeing.

And maybe that's why we're the friendliest city.

Cause we love each other a lot around.

Yeah, well, you certainly created a beautiful sense of belonging, that's for sure.

And who doesn't want to belong?

We want to belong to something good, don't we?

That is really, really lovely.

Well, congratulations on that initiative.

It sounds fantastic.

And you've definitely inspired me now to do a lot more digging on that whole piece.

So standby for a story on that one.

Well, I'll pass your kudos on to the team.

I know that they're really proud of it.

Yeah, they should be.

It's one the of wonderful.

It's wonderful.

Now turning to our travel professional audience out there who are thinking about promoting Calgary to their clients, what advice would you have for them for.

For promoting Calgary as, you know, such a draw card destination?

There's lots that comes to mind.

I would say Calgary really has something for everyone.

Whether you're a family looking to go hiking and biking and wanting to have an urban adventure, to a culinary restaurant lover, to somebody looking for a thrill seeking mountain adventure or you know, scootering along the river, there's something to do year round in Calgary.

So that sense of adventure, that arts and culture, that culinary richness, the seeking for a deeper understanding of indigenous history and culture, there is something in Calgary for everyone.

And so a couple of cherries on top that I think differentiate us from other destinations that we love all of Canada and really we love traveling all around the world.

So travel everywhere.

That's my next.

Sure, that's right.

Calgary on your list though.

And somewhere close to the top.

Feels really good to be in the sunshine.

So 333 days of sunshine and Canada's sunniest major city, that's gotta be a draw.

There are a lot of people who are seeking sunshine at all different times a year.

Year.

And I would say the natural beauty and the blue sky in Calgary is something that really draws me in.

And a lot of visitors comment on the bigness of the blue sky and how amazing and optimistic they feel while they're here.

So that's pretty cool to come here and experience that.

I mentioned the culinary side.

On the culinary side, Canada's top restaurants were just unveiled and we have seven of them here.

So we're winning accolades for this growing deep culinary scene that has and dynamism and Alberta beef that you can't get anywhere else in the world.

There's a really cool farm to table movement in this barley belt surrounding Calgary.

There's just a lot to see and do and drink and eat and experience here.

So if you love culinary experiences, if you want to really immerse yourself in Western Canadian cuisine and indigenous cuisine, we've got a lot to offer there.

I mentioned also that we're a festival hub.

Over 80 events downtown in the summer alone.

There's a lot to do in including the Calgary Stampede.

And really, if you're a family, if you're a solo traveler, a business traveler, a couple, the Calgary Stampede is an incredible thing to add to your list.

And again, if you can't get here during those 10 days, you can still get the Stampede feel all year round in different ways, including the SAM Center.

I would say two more that come to mind would be Connection to history.

We're a base camp to adventure in Calgary, whether that's urban adventures or in the surrounding area.

We have a handful of UNESCO World Heritage sites, which are truly breathtaking.

Dinosaur Provincial park with the hoodoos and the natural beauty of the area, just an hour and a half from Calgary, as well as a sacred indigenous place, head smashed in, Buffalo jump, which has this really rich history and incredible scenery.

It's so cool.

Gosh, what a name as well.

Yes.

And it literally was where you would jump Buffalo off and you should go there and hear things.

Wow, really amazing.

And then, needless to say, the gateway to Banff National Park, Jasper National Park, Kananaskis.

There's such an undescribable beauty to the Rocky Mountains.

And we're an hour from Banff, so that's really incredible to get to do both on your experience.

And then one that I don't know if people appreciate until they get here is that in Alberta, we don't have a provincial sales tax, so we have a gst, which is by percent.

But compared to a destination like Vancouver, we don't have that 7%.

Toronto, we don't have that 8%.

Montreal, we don't have that 10%.

So visitors get here, including folks from Australia who are here.

Yes.

We love our shopping in Australia.

Love their shopping, love their eating.

And they told me, I won't do the accent, but oh, my gosh, we just got Our credit card bill and we couldn't believe it on the foreign currency exchange.

Canadian currency is providing a lot of value for people from other international markets.

I know it's not, you know, quite on par with the Australian dollar, but the lack of PST that we have here really makes Calgary and Alberta generally a standout in terms of high value travel.

That'll surprise you and allow you to do more while you're here.

Absolutely.

One's very important right now.

So it sounds to me like the message here for our Australian travelers and our travel audience is staying longer, extend your stay, maybe plan to spend a bit more time in Calgary.

I think Australians, it is a big jumping off point, always has been for so many things.

So there's so much more to do.

Clearly in Calgary that requires a lot more time to really dig into that, into those experiences a lot.

Deeply.

Absolutely.

And I would say it'll knock your socks off.

If you get here and you only have a day.

Your list of things that you want to do will be longer than you can get through.

And so I always suggest to people, build out a few days, build out longer.

We've even seen people staying for weeks at a time and saying they haven't been able to get through the list of things that they want to do.

So you can definitely consider Calgary as your base camp for adventure where you can have amazing urban experiences and also use it to launch off into the Rockies and launch off into the UNESCO World Heritage sites and the whole surrounding area to give all the different flavors of this area wonderful.

Now, what do you see as the biggest challenge and the biggest opportunity for Calgary tourism?

Alicia?

I mean, the biggest challenge is one that many of us are facing globally right now and it is the tariffs, the threats of tariffs.

There's a lot of uncertainty in the world right now and a lot of lack of settlement and that is, I would say, challenging.

The tourism industry, people are really unsure about the state of the world and unsure about travel.

I would say that's the biggest challenge that we have right now.

We know we have a beautiful place.

We know we have a really friendly place with blue skies and with endless experiences to keep you happy and engaged while you're here.

It's the getting here and encouraging people to take that chance and understand that the opportunity on the other side of that challenge is that tourism is a bridge.

Travel is a bridge.

You never run, regret taking that trip.

You never regret immersing yourself in a new place, learning a history, learning a culture, learning new food and new music while People are scared and they're uncertain.

If you take that leap, I think you can heal your heart and soul by meeting other people and having the opportunity to listen to them and learn from them and to learn that we're all united.

I would say the biggest opportunity is to ask people to walk on that bridge and to go to those bucket list places that they've really been dreaming of and to see what it feels like and to feel what it feels like to be connected and disconnected from that sense of upset that some are feeling throughout the world.

Tourism can be the answer.

I couldn't agree more.

That's absolutely beautifully put.

And it leads us into our last question for today, which is really around your message for our Australian audience and.

Particularly our traveller to okay, first, Australia, we love you.

Come travel here and you will have the most amazing experience.

We love to host people from all around the world and I would say all of the travelers that we have visited from Australia that have come here to give feedback around their experiences in Calgary have said that knocked my socks off.

Amazed by the blue skies, amazed by the friendliness, amazed by the natural beauty.

And truly in this world of sometimes homogenous tourism, marketing and you know, a world world that starts to look the same.

Calgary is one of those unique travel experiences.

And this part of the world, Canada, offers unique travel experiences in our neck of the woods, from wildlife and scenery and adventures to the kindness of strangers.

That's such a nice cherry on top.

Our city, we say, is one that's full of unexpected possibilities, a place of right out of the blue moments that will surprise you and delight you and make your heart skip that beat.

So Calgary is a place that feels really good when you're here.

And above and beyond that, it's got the essentials.

It's safe, it's affordable, as we talked about.

And for international travelers, including from Australia and beyond, it has this sense of home.

So I would say be warned, you are going to come here as a friend and you're maybe never going to want to leave.

Especially when you get that white hat on your head and you feel how good it feels to be a cowgirl and a cowboy at heart.

Oh, I love that.

I love that.

Well, the friendliest city in the world.

I mean, that kind of says it all, really, doesn't it?

I think you don't really need to say anything else.

If that's the award, then that is a pretty great starting point for an amazing experience.

We're so proud of that.

I'm proud of the people who build this industry and make it what it is every day.

It really takes everyone coming together to bring that friendliness.

And that's the part that I'm the most, most proud of.

Wonderful.

Well, thank you so much for our conversation today, Alicia.

I've absolutely loved learning all about Calgary.

So many things I didn't know, and I'm excited to come and visit again with a renewed lens, you know, around the other.

So many things that I didn't get to do the last time I came.

So again, congratulations on everything you're doing with the city.

And yeah, I know many of our listeners will be planning a trip to Calgary as we speak.

So yeah, I can't wait for them to visit it as well.

Absolutely.

Thank you for having me, Matt and all of Australia.

We look forward to seeing you in Calgary soon.

Alicia's story captures the spirit of Calgary.

Bold, welcoming, and full of possibility.

Her leadership shows how cities can grow tourism in a way that's vibrant and sustainable while staying true to the character of the people who call them home.

Thanks for listening and don't forget to check the show notes for useful links, downloads, and more information on today's episode.

Whether you're a travel professional, a traveler, or simply a curious listener, you'll find resources to help you dive deeper into the hearts of Canada.