A report commissioned by Tourism Lethbridge found the Tim Hortons Brier men’s curling championship hosted at the Enmax Centre in March generated about $16.8 million in economic activity in greater Lethbridge area. The report by Sports Tourism Canada also found just under $19.7 million was generated in the province.
“All events in the city bring economic value with them and that is really important for all of our tourism economy, but our general economy as well. The economic impact of these events are really important but so are those social and environmental impacts,” said Erin Crane, CEO of Tourism Lethbridge. “It did mean putting people to work and increasing peoples’ revenue, especially for some of those tourism partners who were really hit hard during the COVID crisis.”
The combined spending of out-of-town participants, staff, spectators, media, and other people who visited Lethbridge for the Brier, in combination with the expenditures made by the event organizers, totaled just under $13.2 million, according to the report.
The expenditures supported $6.2 million in wage and salaries in the province through 137 jobs. The net economic activity generated was $8.4 million in the City of Lethbridge proper, the report said. More than 18,000 out-of-town visitors attended, with the average stay being 5.4 nights in Lethbridge during the event.
“Of course hotels always see a great impact when events like this come in but there are so many other parts of the tourism economy that benefitted — restaurants, retailers, transportation, the attractions all saw an increase in visitation,“ Crane said.
The report will give Tourism Lethbridge information to present to the community when we have these opportunities again, as well as event organizers interested in coming to the city, according to Crane.
“It is tremendous to see that in 2022, the interest and enthusiasm for attending this annual national event, the Tim Hortons Brier, remained so strong,” said Grant MacDonald, COO, Sport Tourism Canada. “Congratulations to Tourism Lethbridge and Curling Canada for holding an extremely successful event. We were pleased that our study provided relevant, accurate data that demonstrated how significant this event was to support the local, provincial and Canadian economies.”