Businesses prepare for Stampede, less corporate spending
Posted Jul 6, 2016 8:04 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
As everyone else prepares to unwind during Stampede, businesses are ramping up.
It’s an important time of year for them and as always, the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth will be a good barometer of the current economics of the city.
Spending will definitely be down.
ATB Financial Chief Economist Todd Hirsch tells City News that’s true for corporations.
“Especially when they’re laying people off, it’s really difficult to go out and spend as much money as they normally would on a Stampede party, so probably anywhere between 10 to 30 per cent reduction in the corporate spending around the parties around Stampede,” he said.
But they’re not all being cancelled; Hirsch explains events geared towards children are gaining traction.
“That gives a chance to both celebrate Stampede, recognize the workers within the company, recognize their children — because no one can really blame children for having fun during Stampede,” he said.
The silver lining is that Hirsch believes bars and restaurants won’t take a serious hit.
Hirsch expects sales will only be down three to five per cent.
That’s good news for Wendy Daniel, marketing director at Ranchman’s, who expects a fantastic year, pointing out the bottom line is if you have a great event, people will come.
“There is some corporate trade that is a little bit down, but we’ve made up for it working with some charities that are selling tickets and getting a lot of support to get the numbers out to Stampede parties,” she said, adding they’ve ordered more beer this year than ever before.
Many believe tourism will save the day.
Hirsch says a weak dollar has already led to more American visitors in 2016.
“We might also be seeing more stay at home vacationers, people from other parts of the province spending their holiday money a little closer to home, so we might actually not see as big a hit on restaurants and bars in Calgary,” he said.
Daniel agrees.
“It’s great value for them to come up to Canada and I know Tourism Calgary did a lot of market in the States,” she said.
The Stampede slowdown could only be a one or two year blip.
Hirsch believes things will turn around in 2017 and companies will be eager to get back to morale boosting parties.
