2022 Tim Horton's Brier at the ENMAX Centre, March 10, 2022. (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko/LethbridgeNewsNOW

Report: 2022 Brier generated $16.8M in economic activity for Lethbridge

Aug 8, 2022 | 4:34 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – A new report is showing that a major curling event in Lethbridge paid dividends.

Sport Tourism Canada (STC) has released its Economic Impact Assessment report on the 2022 Tim Horton’s Brier, which was held at the ENMAX Centre from March 4-13, 2022.

The event generated a total of $16.8 million in economic activity for Lethbridge. When including Alberta as a whole, the economic impact was $19.7 million.

Grant MacDonald, chief operating officer of STC, says it is tremendous to see that, in 2022, the interest and enthusiasm for this event was so strong.

“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,” says MacDonald. “It’s one more sign that sport tourism is returning, is healthy, and will continue to have a huge economic impact as events are held.”

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The curling championships supported 128 local jobs with $5.4 million in wages and salaries.

A total of $3.9 million in federal, provincial, and municipal tax revenue was generated.

STC estimates that there were approximately 18,500 out-of-town visitors in the city during the Brier event, who spent a combined $10.8 million. Ninety-one per cent of visitors stayed in overnight accommodations for an average of 5.4 nights.

Of the visitors who were surveyed by STC, more than 86 per cent indicated that they were likely to make future visits to the city.

Erin Crane, CEO of Tourism Lethbridge, was pleased to see that so many people coming to Lethbridge for the event were happy with their experience.

“Lethbridge has always enjoyed hosting major curling and sporting events and we look forward to continuing to welcome curling fans in the future,” says Crane. “It is always wonderful to see visitors to our city enjoying everything Lethbridge has to offer and the economic impact is welcomed by all our attractions, hotels, restaurants, and retailers.”

Nearly nine-out-of-town locals surveyed by STC said they would support efforts to attract more national and international events to the city.

The full report from STC can be read on the Sport Tourism Canada website.

The June 2020 decision by Lethbridge City Council to submit a $1 million bid to be able to host the Brier was not a unanimous one.

It came near the start of the pandemic and some members of council felt that the bid wasn’t needed at the time due to the city’s rough financial position at the time. Others believed that exponentially more money would be generated from the event than would be spent on it, which now turned out to be the case.