Windsor's tourism industry is booming.
191 stakeholders and tourism partners learned Thursday at Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island's (TWEPI) 2024 annual general meeting (AGM) just how busy Windsor has been.
TWEPI's CEO Gordon Orr says an Oxford Economics company was hired to evaluate the last three years and found that tourism levels are at 98 per cent of what they were in 2019, pre-pandemic.
"So what the growth is, from 2021, 3.1 million visitors. Now in 2023, 5.6 million visitors. Those 5.6 million visitors left behind $856 million of economic benefit and helped support an industry to employ over 11,500 people."
Orr says 1.7 million of the visitors in 2023 were from the United States, rebounding quicker than they anticipated.
He says the forecast is bright.
"What we've seen is a renewed spirit. You were talking about COVID. Of course COVID we had the border closed. The border is open. We're welcoming more Americans back than we had in the last three years and we know that they're leaving more money behind. We're celebrating our two nation destination concept. Detroit is on a real uptick and we're capitalizing on that as well."
The AGM also celebrated 30 years of gaming in Windsor-Essex and highlighted the impact on gaming and the Caesars Windsor brand has had on the local tourism industry.
Caesars Windsor, formerly known as Casino Windsor, opened in May 1994, and the current permanent resort opened in Jul. 1998.
Orr says the facility and industry has changed the face of the tourism landscape.
"We recognize the importance of gaming. The effect it has had, the employment that it's had, the economic benefit. It's really an economic generator and a job creator and we're really fortunate it's in our backyard."
Kevin Laforet, the president & CEO of Caesars Windsor, was the keynote speaker at the AGM.
Laforet started off as a financial controller at the casino on day one of operations and has held his current role for 10 years.
He says the last 30 years have not been without challenges.
"85 per cent of our business came from Detroit and I think Michigan and Detroit politicians said 'okay if our folks are going to be gambling we might as well get taxes', so you saw three Detroit casinos open. 9/11 obviously thickened the border, you had the smoking ban and SARS. So a lot of things really combined, our business was almost knocked in half."
He says the casino was able to turn operations around by working with Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation and Caesars Entertainment.
"Built this hotel tower we're standing in right now, the 5,000 seat Colosseum, did a renovation of the existing facility and most important became a Caesars property with the total rewards brand. And so we turned things around and the Colosseum has been a big part of it."
Laforet highlighted the work TWEPI has done for the area.
"Gord and his crew do an outstanding job at TWEPI, [they] work well with the mayor and council. Everybody is very focused, they realized how important tourism is. It's a great team effort and it's really nice to see it paying dividends."
TWEPI is the official destination marketing organization for the regional tourism industry.
They are a not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to promoting and selling Windsor, Essex and Pelee Island as a remarkable destination for tourist, convention goers and business travelers.
More information can be found here: visitwindsoressex.com.
-With files from CTV Windsor's Rich Garton