Falls ready to welcome Invictus athletes
Niagara tourism partners will host hundreds of international athletes and their families this week as part of the Invictus Games in Toronto.
Up to 500 athletes, family members and coaching staff will take a specially chartered Via Rail train to Niagara Falls on Wednesday for a daylong outing to enjoy the destination’s attractions and activities.
The participants are scheduled to arrive at the Niagara Falls train station on Bridge Street at 11 a.m. From there, they will board WEGO buses for Table Rock and will have free time to enjoy attractions. They will depart for the train at 2:30 p.m. for their return to Toronto.
The competition for wounded and sick soldiers, which includes current and veteran members of the Forces, started Saturday and runs until Sept. 30. Anthony Annunziata, executive director of the Tourism Partnership of Niagara, said organizers with the Invictus Games reached out and asked if it would help organize a welcoming.
“Niagara is a place to share and spend time with loved ones — really it’s those shared experiences that really make Niagara what it is,” he said.
“We’re getting them to come down on the train, go downtown and then be able to go to Hornblower, travel in the park and enjoy Clifton Hill. We made tickets available for HOCO and the whole Clifton Hill experience. The whole Niagara Parks has made tickets available to the friends and families as well while they’re here, and so has Hornblower.”
Annunziata said Niagara is the No. 1 leisure destination in Canada, and is a “big selling point” for Toronto and Ontario when hosting big events.
“Because they’re here, they definitely want to come to Niagara, but also because we have our own strengths, people want to come to Niagara,” he said.
“We’ve built a reputation. This is a must-stop for everybody who is close to the area … to experience whether it’s Twenty Valley, whether it’s Niagara-on-the-Lake, whether it’s Niagara Falls, whether it’s biking, cycling, hiking, zipping — all those things. People want to get that experience to say they were here, and be able to tell their friends, and take it back to where they came from.”
Mayor Jim Diodati said he’ s going to welcome the athletes, coaches, trainers and families at the train station when they arrive in Niagara Falls.
He said when Toronto hosts events such as the Invictus Games, they “kind of market” Niagara Falls as “part of the Toronto experience.”
“There’s been a number of different initiatives that we’ve gone together with Toronto on, so the only part we debate is should they stay in Niagara Falls and visit Toronto, or stay in Toronto and visit Niagara Falls,” said Diodati.
“What you hear a lot is, If I’m getting as far as Toronto, I’m driving the extra hour and a half down the highway to see Niagara Falls. And now it can be a 12-minute flight, or (in the future) it can be a two-hour train ride. That’s why with the GO train, that’s just going to enhance those numbers.”