Grand Forks tourism push targets 15 major sporting events as accommodation plans expand

Discover Grand Forks wants to grow from seven major sporting events a year to 15, while a new tourism update says additional accommodation, including a hotel suited to sports groups, is being planned.

A Discover Grand Forks billboard promotes the city’s downtown Market District as the tourism organization works to attract more visitors and sporting events.

Image via: Discover Grand Forks via ETSI-BC

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GRAND FORKS — Discover Grand Forks plans to more than double the number of major sporting events it supports as part of a tourism strategy aimed at extending visitor spending and the local tourism season.

Boundary Country Regional Chamber of Commerce executive director Andrew Zwicker told the Economic Trust of the Southern Interior that Discover Grand Forks has purchased wireless timing equipment to support growth from seven major sporting events a year to 15. The organization projects the expansion will generate $105,000 in additional spending over the next two years.

The public update does not provide the calculation behind that estimate, identify the seven events currently counted or give attendance projections for the additional events.

The strategy follows a 2025 relaunch of Discover Grand Forks after feedback from Chamber members and local businesses indicated that a stronger tourism focus could help grow the local economy.

ETSI-BC approved $20,000 toward the $22,000 Discover Grand Forks 2.0: Rebuilding Our Foundation for Tourism Growth project in December 2024. A second round followed in 2025, when the Boundary Country Regional Chamber of Commerce received $30,000 toward a $75,000 Discover Grand Forks 3.0 signage and digital-integration project.

Zwicker was temporarily contracted as Discover Grand Forks manager during the relaunch, while a summer tourism ambassador provided visitor support, helped produce marketing videos and assisted with events.

Working with the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association, Discover Grand Forks focused on three tourism assets: the area's long cycling season, its local food and farming sector, and affordable family-oriented activities and events.

Zwicker said the organization has produced 31 tourism videos highlighting biking, running, Nordic skiing and other attractions. He also said recent data show more people attending Grand Forks events are coming from Nelson, Castlegar, Rossland, Osoyoos and Kamloops, with some visitors coming from the Lower Mainland and United States.

The ETSI-BC update does not provide the underlying attendance figures or a before-and-after comparison showing how much outside visitation has changed.

Zwicker also reported that several tourism-related businesses were able to keep summer staff employed later into the fall and that four businesses that moved to Grand Forks from elsewhere in B.C. said the tourism videos helped influence their decision. The businesses and employment figures were not identified in the public update.

More accommodation planned

Accommodation is also part of the tourism strategy.

Zwicker told ETSI-BC that more short-term rentals, cabins and motel accommodation are planned and that a new hotel suited to sports groups is "in the works." He said such a hotel could give Grand Forks an advantage when pursuing the tournament market.

The ETSI-BC update does not identify the hotel developer, proposed location, number of rooms, approval status, financing or expected construction and opening dates.

Separately, City of Grand Forks records show that another hotel proposal has previously gone through the municipal approval process downtown.

MJI Contracting proposed a hotel at 151 Market Ave., and in September 2024 council approved Development Permit DP2407 for a four-storey, 33-room hotel with a conference room. Plans also included ground-level parking, a courtyard patio and a gym or yoga room.

Council approved variances allowing nine off-street parking spaces and changes to sight-triangle requirements for the development. The development permit itself states that it is not a building permit and that a separate building permit is required.

DP2407 was issued Sept. 9, 2024 and states that it lapses if construction is not substantially started within two years, setting a deadline of Sept. 9, 2026. Public City records reviewed by the Sentinel do not establish whether construction substantially began before that deadline, whether the development permit was extended or whether a building permit has since been issued.

No official source reviewed by the Sentinel connects the 151 Market Ave. proposal with the hotel described by Zwicker in the new tourism update, and the two should not be assumed to be the same project.

Turning highway traffic into longer stays

The broader Discover Grand Forks strategy is aimed at capturing more economic activity from travellers who already pass through the city.

ETSI-BC says more than 5,500 vehicles a day were travelling through Grand Forks on Highway 3 several years ago, while many travellers stopped only briefly for fuel or food. The relaunched tourism strategy is intended to encourage more visitors to spend additional time in the community.

Discover Grand Forks has also developed what Zwicker calls the Grand Forks Gateway plan, a model intended to improve collaboration among businesses, economic-development organizations and tourism groups.

The organization is preparing to launch a new website and directional signage as it moves into more specific tourism projects.

Sporting events are one of the priorities. Growing from seven major events annually to 15 would more than double the current number, although the public update does not identify the additional events being pursued or provide the methodology behind the projected $105,000 in additional spending.

The accommodation picture is also incomplete. Discover Grand Forks says a hotel capable of serving sports groups is being planned, while City records document a separate 33-room hotel proposal whose current status after its September development-permit deadline is not clear from publicly available municipal records.

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