Festival city. Capital city. The city of champions. It’s known as so many things for so many reasons, but these days we can put the titles aside and simply say “Edmonton” and get a smile back from people around the world. It’s no accident. It’s design. Our local identity is carefully curated. One of the major players behind this is Explore Edmonton, and within it is Traci Bednard, President and CEO.
Edmonton Economic Development Corporation was restructured in 2020. Among the organizations spun out of at that time (including Edmonton Unlimited and Edmonton Global) was Explore Edmonton. Out of those three components, Explore Edmonton focuses on tourist attraction as well as promoting the city as a place for conferences, events and more. Explore Edmonton also manages the Expo and Convention centres. In 2021, Northlands was dissolved and the agriculture assets (KDays, Urban Farm, Farmfair International) were also moved under the Explore Edmonton banner.
Bednard and her team wasted no time in driving impact, including bringing back a long-term favourite that the city had been missing for a number of years.
“We won a bid to bring back the Canadian Finals Rodeo!” she shares. “It is such a historic tradition for Edmonton and recognizes not just the sport, but the economics. It is a great opportunity to host a lot of our rural visitors.”
Bednard became President & CEO in 2021 after a career largely spent with Edmonton Economic Development, Edmonton Tourism and EIA – in addition to plenty of experience in a wide range of marketing and communication roles.
“I believe in the vision,” she shares. “When you travel around the world for work promoting Edmonton as I did with EIA, you can look back and see why to invest. Edmonton has so many things going for it. I saw Edmonton with fresh eyes and all the opportunities we have to promote it. Sometimes you have to travel and see it from a different perspective.”
She notes that locally, we take so many of the city’s attributes for granted. For example, our consistent ski and snow conditions in the Rockies, while having quick access to the major urban centre of Edmonton, is a huge draw for tourists from places like Germany. For foodies, the city is also an attraction. In 2023, five of the globally top ranked restaurants were in Edmonton, as were 50 of the top ranked cocktail bars.
Recently, Lonely Planet – one of the world’s preeminent global travel sites – named Edmonton in its top 30 destination list for 2025. The site highlights the Edmonton International Fringe Festival, Whyte Avenue and Old Strathcona’s shopping and dining experiences and the Royal Alberta Museum as major draws.
“Did you know we had the World Basketball Association take notice? We held a pre-season National Basketball Association (NBA) game here. For the NBA to choose Edmonton speaks to our appeal as a city. Both of those games sold out and the people that attended said it felt like more like playoffs than pre-season exhibitions,” says Bednard.
“Businesses play a huge role,” she adds. “A number of Explore Edmonton’s programs procure local food to be served in our venues. That is actually part of the attraction when we secure conferences. In events such as KDays, we can feature our local breweries. Then there are the educational institutions. Up to a quarter of the people in downtown daily are there due to MacEwan University. Our post-secondary schools are part of the vibrancy.”
“We don’t speak up enough about the amazing assets we have,” she continues. “Festivals (we have more festivals than weekends in a year), art and culture, a major dining scene, the beautiful river valley, outstanding venues and sports centres – visitors value these things.”
In her role she ensures the word gets out thanks to a leadership style rooted in collaboration.
“We have a broad mandate with experts and passionate leaders. Attracting events, promoting venues, working with community partners… my job as a leader is to enable, support and communicate this work into the community and beyond.”
One of the ways Bednard and her team are changing the narrative is to challenge Edmonton’s “modesty.”
“We measured it,” she says. “The tourism sentiment index score for Edmonton is extremely high. The only other Canadian city to outrank us is Penticton. However, when we ask locals to rank the city, the response is much more modest. We don’t see our attributes with visitors’ eyes. Edmontonians love to do these things that attract visitors too, but we don’t always equate this to being special.”
But Edmonton is special, and there are more 1,200 employees making it so, from people serving meals to guests at the Canadian Music Awards to the organizers of the Fringe, from ticket takers at the hockey playoffs to safety officers on the trails.
Bednard points out that promoting Edmonton – locally and abroad – is a massive group effort. Explore Edmonton helps to facilitate the effort, which involves businesses, non-profits, institutions and more. Basically, if you live and work in the city, you are part of what drives the attraction to Edmonton.
“Things don’t just come to Edmonton. Our work ethic and ability to come together to create and do things is very inspiring. For example, hydrogen is an important part of our economy. We worked with Edmonton Global, among others, to bring in a national conference,” says Bednard. “This is not anything any single entity could do separately, but together, we can build. We show up as a community and that makes it attractive to be recruited into Edmonton and to attract conferences and events.”
She also cautions against the “all eggs in one basket” way of thinking. While some major centres tend to focus on one large attribute, season or natural feature, Explore Edmonton focuses on diversification.
“We don’t bank on visitors coming for one season because there is always something happening year-round. Edmonton is difficult to brand because we are not one thing. If you love comedy, arts, culture, nature or sports, we have it. But,” she admits, “that is tough to tie up in a bow and market. It is difficult to show off Edmonton in a PowerPoint presentation and it is hard, sometimes, to recruit events due to outdated and false perceptions. We need potential talent and investors to visit in person because when they do, they are blown away.”
That diversity of attractions, while being a driver yet also a challenge, is not the only thing Explore Edmonton is battling. She is very realistic about another aspect of the city that is not as pleasant to see, discuss or experience.
Over the past years, Edmonton’s downtown core and inner-city transit have had numerous incidences of violence and a growing volume of homeless encampments.
With their signature style of tackling big problems head on in a collaborative manner, Explore Edmonton is empowering solutions and not just brushing this issue aside. In fact, the organization refuses to downplay it.
“I work downtown. I am here every day. I see it,” Bednard says firmly. “Yes, it is a challenge. However, I think of it in terms of what Edmonton can do. We have an opportunity here. By increasing the vibrancy of downtown, filling up our events, spaces and businesses, we drive activation and that changes the experience. Technically it is not our role to be formally working on the social nets and safety side of the city, but Explore Edmonton can – and does – contribute to solutions. We are on site and present, driving economic impact that benefits all. Tourism is a big part of that, in helping to raise the economic standard unilaterally.”
It’s not just dollars. It’s also “sense.” Explore Edmonton works hard to show that marginalized groups have a safe and active place in the city, in the venues, at events and to showcase and celebrate their cultures. Not only does this help revitalize city, it helps make it safer as the visibility of cultural diversity brings communities together in positive ways.
Bednard says, “Explore Edmonton has its own equity and diversity inclusion committee, but we encourage every person and business to look inward because it starts with individuals. Edmonton is diverse and sometimes people don’t understand that. However, that is who we are, and we are proud of this and proud to show that diversity to visitors.”
Whether it is Indigenous inclusion, 2SLGBTQIA+ parades, cultural events like Cariwest or Heritage, be it accessibility for differently-abled persons at events and venues or progressive thinking programs and gatherings, Explore Edmonton strives to make the city safe and welcoming for all.
“But we also have work to do,” she admits. “We are actively working to share a better understanding of accessibility issues. For example, we are partnering with Edmonton Unlimited on an app to help with this. We are also working with a local committee for a bid for The Gay Games, which is the world’s largest 2SLGBTQIA+ sports and culture event. We are actually Rainbow Certified. This is an audit that identifies whether the attributes of the community would be welcomed in an inclusive way. We are proud to be one of the first communities to earn that.”
The organization also works in-depth with Indigenous partners.
“They are the original stewards of the land. We care about the environment and we want our visitors to care about it too.”
Looking beyond the borders of the city, Bednard is proud of how Edmonton helps drive the overall Alberta advantage.
“It’s all in our technical items,” she smiles. “In addition to the attractions and events, we have affordability, great commuter times and wide access to WIFI. The quality of life attracts people to Edmonton and then keeps them here, and businesses want to expand in places where people want to live. On top of that, our local post-secondary expertise is a huge advantage in educating and attracting people here.”
It’s not the fastest transition, due to the aforementioned “old perceptions” of Edmonton, but it is a happening. More people are flocking to the city to visit, and more people are seeing it as a place to call home. Explore Edmonton’s short and long-range visions are paying off, and they have an increasing number of marketing awards to prove it.
For Bednard and her team, however, it’s not so much the awards in the trophy case. It’s the impact that benefits every person in the city.
“Last year alone tourists spent $2 billion in Edmonton. That has such a direct impact on us all.”
With a strong, growing visitor economy, Edmonton’s economic future looks bright. The Conference Board of Canada is projecting that the Edmonton region will have the fastest growing economy in Canada between 2025 and 2028 based on real GDP growth of 2.8 per cent.
From business conferences to sports, cultural celebrations to food, museums to trails, Edmonton has it all – and then some. As Explore Edmonton works tirelessly to promote it all on the global stage, don’t forget to look around the place you call home and recognize all the many aspects that make it all so very special.
