Group lobbies for hoteliers
They aren’t just places to lay one’s head. They are the businesses that often lay the foundation for a visitor’s impression of a city, or even an entire country.
Hotels are home base for travellers and, in Calgary, they employ thousands and contribute millions to the local economy.
The Calgary Hotel Association is committed to ensuring the hotel industry remains vibrant and poised to keep pace with growth, says CHA president Joseph Clohessy. “We are very involved in advocacy and being a voice in issues that impact our members.”
The CHA is comprised of 60 member hotel properties located throughout the city, and these properties encompass a combined total of more than 10,700 rooms to meet the needs of a wide range of visitors to Calgary, from royalty and high-ranking international officials to vacationing families and business travellers.
The CHA is a voluntary association that serves its members by promoting the common economic, political, community and environmental interests of its members. “For example, on a local level, we helped advocate for the airport tunnel in the northeast,” says Clohessy.
The Airport Trail Tunnel is a 620-metre tunnel that will run under the new Calgary International Airport runway and will extend Airport Trail from Barlow Trail to 36th Street N.E., and its construction is of tremendous importance to CHA members.
The lack of a tunnel would result in an estimated $2 million in lost revenue to the 20 hotels in northeast because of rerouted traffic, says the CHA, and that was just the projected impact to the northeast hoteliers.
In addition, hotel shuttles would spend about $700 more in diesel fuel each month if the tunnel was not built, it noted.
The efforts of the CHA, community members, local organizations and some politicians, however, put the tunnel back on the City of Calgary’s table and in so doing, council made it a top priority.
The CHA not only lobbies for the interests of the members, but also educates members, governments and other tourism industry participants about the economic, social and environmental issues that affect tourism in Calgary and the surrounding region.
The association works to increase the profile of its members in the tourism industry in Calgary and surrounding region, and establishes relationships and maintain liaisons with governments and other organizations in tourism.
“We work with partners in promoting Calgary as a tourism destination,” says Clohessy. “For example, we work with local attractions like the Calgary Zoo, Heritage Park and COP (Canada Olympic Park) to market tourism, because we all benefit from our efforts.”
The association also reaches out to the businesses and organizations that work in concert with hotels. Its members also co-operate to address challenges that might be forthcoming.
“Growth and development in our industry could be significantly slowed by a lack of available labour,” says Clohessy. “We need to attract people from across Canada and around the world as unemployment levels remain relatively low.”
He says key partners, such as Calgary Economic Development, are instrumental in preparing for this challenge and in helping association members realize their potential.
“Action Calgary is doing a great job of bringing people together,” says Clohessy. “Working together, they help us reach a larger audience. And developing a co-ordinated, strategic approach to building a strong workforce is very powerful in creating awareness and achieving results. We are very excited about the results so far and are enthusiastic about the “Calgary. Be Part of the Energy.” initiative particularly in how it assists us in attracting new talent to our city.”