Explore Edmonton Co. is a
destination marketing organization in
Edmonton,
Alberta. It is involved in promoting Edmonton tourism, operating two of the city's event facilities—the
Edmonton Convention Centre
The Edmonton Convention Centre (ECC, formerly the Shaw Conference Centre), is a meeting, entertainment, and convention venue located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Opened in 1983, it is managed by Explore Edmonton, the destination marketing org ...
and the
Edmonton Expo Centre,
and serving as the organizer of the annual exhibitions
K-Days and Farmfair International.
It was formerly known as the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation (EEDC), and additionally acted as an
economic development agency for the city. In 2019, Edmonton's city council voted in favour of splitting its economic development activities into a new innovation authority (which would be known as Innovate Edmonton).
History
The Edmonton Economic Development Corporation (EEDC) was founded by the City of Edmonton in 1993, as an independent, not-for-profit corporate entity. Its main objective was to provide leadership for the
economic development strategy for the region.
On January 1, 2018, the EEDC took ownership of the
Edmonton Expo Centre from
Northlands, as part of an agreement with the city to forgive the latter's debt.
In August 2018, when Derek Hudson took over as CEO of EEDC, he said that his main goal in the position was to develop a more resilient, diverse economy, including focusing on the tourism and technology sectors.
In January 2019, EEDC announced that one of its goals was to move Edmonton away from its reliance on the oil industry, and said the Corporation would focus on industries such as arts and culture; sport; health; artificial intelligence; public service; and government, in moving towards this aim.
In support of EEDC's goals,
Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson
Donald L. Iveson (born May 30, 1979) is a Canadian politician who served as mayor of Edmonton from 2013 to 2021. He was first elected as mayor in the 2013 municipal election with 62% of the vote, and was re-elected in 2017 with 73.6% of the v ...
said at the EEDC's 2019 luncheon that the city needs expansion and innovation across its industries instead of waiting for and relying on the oil market to rebound.
In December 2019, the Edmonton City Council voted on a notion to form a new, separate innovation authority, which would subsume some of the EEDC's existing economic development activities. As a result, the EEDC was to focus primarily on conventions and tourism.
The city approved $5 million in annual funding for the new organization in May 2020, which would be known as Innovate Edmonton.
In April 2020, multiple senior leaders of the EEDC departed as part of layoffs by the corporation, primarily citing the economic impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta.
In September 2020, the EEDC announced that it had rebranded as Explore Edmonton.
In June 2021, Northlands announced that it would dissolve effective July 5, 2021, and that Explore Edmonton would take over the operations of
K-Days and Farmfair International going forward.
Funding
Explore Edmonton receives annual funding from the City of Edmonton, with the remainder of its budget coming from convention centre operations and government grants.
In November 2020, the organization requested "an increase in funding over the next three years to make up for declining revenues from facility and hotel bookings as a result of the
OVID-19pandemic."
The group has asked $18.8 million in 2022 and $14.5 million in 2023.
References
External links
* {{Official website, https://exploreedmonton.com
Non-profit corporations
Companies based in Edmonton