Calgary Stampede gives big boost to local businesses

Calgary Stampede attendance is projected to break records for 2024, and the flood of visitors is boosting business and tourism across the city.

The Stampede has welcomed over 1.17 million visitors to the park as of Friday, which is not too far away from its all-time high of 1.4 million visitors in 2012.

Tourism Calgary says the surge in visitors is expected to bring roughly $280 million to the city throughout Stampede, which is having an impact on industries far beyond the rodeo.

“It supports the livelihood of 84,000 people who make their living in the tourism economy here in Calgary,” said Alisha Reynolds, the CEO of Tourism Calgary.

“There’s a level of excitement and support for small businesses city-wide.”

Some of those small businesses are on the busy strip of Stephen Avenue.

One such business is The Office, with the owner Jeff Hanna saying the tourists have been “all day every day,” and he hasn’t seen this many tourists in his entire career.

“I have been doing this for many years in Calgary, and I might say this might be the best year I have ever seen,” he told CityNews.

“The spirits of the people, the amount of traffic, the amount of tourists I have seen in town and meeting people from all over the world who are just infatuated with our city … it has been unbelievable.”

But even when the Stampede packs up for another year, businesses hope to keep building on that momentum.

Reynolds says there are 100 more festivals taking take place in the city for the remainder of the summer season, which is expected to keep tourism in Calgary booming.