Tourism

Ottawa is “trending in the right direction” as a tourist destination for Parisians and visitors from other parts of Europe thanks to new direct flights between YOW and Paris, the CEO of Ottawa Tourism says.

An Ottawa firm plans to build a new Holiday Inn near a growing cluster of industrial parks and fulfilment centres in the city’s southwest end.

Attracting marquee sporting competitions such as rugby's Pacific Four Series is the primary goal of the “bid more, win more, host more” strategy, a joint effort between Ottawa Tourism and the City of Ottawa to promote the capital as a world-class event-hosting destination.

Clouds of smoke and smog might have obscured the view but didn’t deter too many adrenaline-seekers from ziplining across the Ottawa River this weekend, operators say.

While the head of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada warns that businesses are struggling to stay afloat under a pile of debt and a lack of overseas visitors, at least one local tourism operator seems to be bucking the trend.

A growing wave of intensification near LRT stations in Ottawa’s east end is poised to continue with a plan to build a hotel near the Taylor Creek Business Park in Orléans.

Small businesses and tourism operators in Ottawa are seeing visitors cancel tours and avoid sightseeing around the city amid lingering clouds of smoke and poor air quality from wildfires burning in Ontario and Quebec. 

Ross Meredith, the general manager of the Westin Ottawa and the Delta Ottawa City Centre hotels, said he thinks it will “probably take a few years” for the Ottawa tourism sector to see pre-COVID levels of overseas visitor spending.

As director of communications for Ottawa Tourism, Jantine Van Kregten spent 20 years showing off the best of the capital city.

In an email to OBJ on Monday, Group Germain’s vice-president of operations, Hugo Germain, said the Quebec-based hotel chain is still working with the Ottawa International Airport Authority on a proposal to build a 180-room Alt Hotel that would be attached to the airport terminal.