winnipeg tourism sector

Key Industries

Tourism

Winnipeg is a vibrant, artsy, multicultural city that has been singled out by publications including National Geographic Traveller, Lonely Planet, the New York Times and LA Times as a top travel destination for its many charms. The city attracts approximately 3.5 million annual visitors, resulting in an estimated $609 million in direct expenditure. This key economic sector employs more than 48,000 people, resulting in $2.3 billion in GDP. The city’s globally acclaimed attractions include The Canadian Museum for Human Rights – a marvel of architecture that has won over 50 national and international awards since its inception in 2014, and Assiniboine Park Zoo’s Journey to Churchill – the world’s most comprehensive Arctic species exhibit.

Our Tourism Winnipeg (TW) team is the city’s official destination marketing organization and leads all efforts to attract visitors, group tours, special events, sports, meetings and conventions to Winnipeg.

TW showcases the city’s star attractions, festivals, events, arts, culture, restaurants and services to provide residents and visitors the best possible experience.

Our TW team developed a vertical sales and marketing strategy to target meetings and conventions that aligned with the city’s economic sector strengths in advanced manufacturing, aerospace, agriculture, energy and environment, financial services, information and communications technology, life sciences, creative industries and transportation & distribution. Leveraging these strengths provided a more compelling value proposition to support the efforts of attracting national and international events to the city.

Winnipeg Success Stories

Gardens at the Leaf

Assiniboine Park keeps growing with The Leaf at Canada’s Diversity Gardens. This 6,000 square metre, $97.8 million horticultural exhibit features diverse biomes, one of the world’s largest indoor waterfalls, a top floor butterfly garden and an onsite restaurant and patio. Its exterior gardens include an Indigenous People’s Garden, The Grove and the Cultural Mosaic Gardens.

assiniboinepark.ca

Qaumajuq

Qaumajuq, meaning “it is bright, it is lit” in Inuktitut, is the city’s newest attraction. The Winnipeg Art Gallery’s 185,000 sq. ft. Inuit art centre has become a cultural campus in the vibrant centre of downtown Winnipeg, showcasing the world’s largest collection of contemporary Inuit art. It has one-of-a-kind features like a four-storey glass vault that houses thousands of carvings from nearly every region of the Arctic, along with architecture that pays homage to the expansive Arctic landscape, including a façade that curves like snow drifts. Having opened in spring 2021, Qaumajuq has already been celebrated by numerous esteemed publications like Forbes, enRoute, Smithsonian Magazine and The New York Times.

wag.ca/qaumajuq

Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada

Re-opening in a brand new $35 million centre in early 2022, the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada showcases the country’s history of flight in stunning detail. Here, visitors have the chance to enter historic aircrafts, see prototypes whose wacky designs literally never took off, and talk to knowledgeable staff who truly give this place wings.

royalaviationmuseum.com

True North Square

For tourists, the epicenter of the $400 million True North Square is Hargrave St. Market, Canada's chicest food hall. It has seating for 600, six food kiosks by some of the city’s best restaurants and chefs, a lengthy craft cocktail bar and a gorgeous Italian restaurant, along with a microbrewery from Lake of the Woods Brew Co. The Square’s five towers also include a 17-storey tower replete with shopping and retail spaces; a 25-storey residential building; and a 300,000 square tower which will be the future home (2023) of Wawanesa Insurance. True North Square is directly connected to Canada Life Centre and most of downtown via heated skywalks.

www.truenorthsquare.com

Fast Facts

$609M

in direct spend (2017)
3.5

million domestic visits (2017)
48,000

people employed in the tourism sector
+10,000

seasonal part-time jobs available

Winnipeg Profile

7,100

Hotel rooms
#4

Fourth largest Convention Centre in Canada
80 flights

per day arriving into the city
Bonjour

Home to Western Canada’s largest Francophone community

Key Attractors

World-class attractions
Year-round festivals and events
Family-friendly destination
Culinary and foodie hotspot
Cultural cradle of Canada

Key Network

Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce

With membership open to both Indigenous-owned and operated, and non-Indigenous businesses, the Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce’s vision is to increase Indigenous business prosperity while adhering to the seven sacred teachings of love, respect, courage, honesty, wisdom humility and truth.

www.aboriginalchamber.ca

Canadian Society of Association Executives (CSAE) – Manitoba Chapter

CSAE Manitoba’s role is to help build exceptional leaders through workshops, a continuing education program, networking events, and providing association connections. Services include association job links, an online shop, a buyer’s guide, and a magazine.

csae.com

Manitoba Hotel Association

Established in 1927, the Manitoba Hotel Association represents the majority of the province’s hotels, having one of highest membership rates in North America. The not-for-profit corporation serves the needs and promotes the common interests of the hotel and accommodation industry in Manitoba.

www.mha1.ca

Manitoba LGBT* Chamber

The LGBT* Chamber’s mission is to “cultivate, contribute to and promote a thriving community of LGBT* owned and allied businesses, professionals and students in Manitoba.” They promote business opportunities, perform community outreach, advocate for equality of market access and pro-LGBT* friendly policies, and support members with programming, training and resources.

mb-lgbt.biz

Manitoba Restaurant & Foodservices Association (MRFA)

The MRFA lobbies the government and other regulatory bodies on issues affecting the restaurant business. Its services include insurance programs and credit card savings, while its membership includes nearly 400 restaurants and 100 associate members.

mrfa.mb.ca

Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce

For over 140 years The Chamber has been a community leader, a member business supporter and a public policy influencer. Their mission is to help sustain an environment in which the city’s businesses can prosper, while their four-point member-driven directions are to: Launch a more robust model for small business support; Establish and support catalytic leadership in our community; Advance solution-oriented dialogue and advocacy; and Elevate connectivity.

www.winnipeg-chamber.com