Our Positive Economic Impact
What are the community benefits of the Rogers Centre Ottawa?
The Rogers Centre Ottawa helps strengthen Ottawa's economy by attracting visitors, supporting local businesses, creating jobs, and hosting events that generate significant economic activity across the region.
Between 2019 and 2020 we…
Between 2024 and 2025, we:
- Contributed $113 million in direct spending to Ottawa’s economy.
- Welcomed 37,000 out-of-town visitors, bringing convention delegates to Ottawa from across Canada and around the world.
- Hosted 266 events, including 45 conventions.
- Supported approximately 1,135 jobs, generating $60 million in direct and indirect labour income.
- Supported 853 jobs directly through events, generating $37 million in labour income.
- Contributed approximately $94 million to Ottawa’s GDP.
- Generated $41.6 million in tax revenue for all three levels of government.
- Diverted 1,300 pounds of convention materials from landfills and achieved a 60% waste diversion rate through its sustainability and community programs.
Tourism Benefits and Local Economic Impact
How does the Rogers Centre Ottawa benefit Ottawa's tourism industry?
The Rogers Centre Ottawa attracts conferences, conventions, and business events that bring visitors to the city and generate significant spending for local businesses. Through partnerships with Destination Canada, Ottawa Tourism, and local hotels, the Centre helps strengthen Ottawa’s visitor economy.
In 2024–2025, Rogers Centre Ottawa generated an estimated $113 million in direct spending, including:
- $72 million in attendee spending
- $25 million in exhibitor spending
- $15 million in production spending
Local Sectors
What local businesses benefit from the Rogers Centre Ottawa?
Business events hosted at the Rogers Centre Ottawa create economic opportunities across many sectors of Ottawa’s economy, including:
- Accommodation services
- Food and beverage services
- Retail trade, arts, entertainment and recreation
- Information and cultural industries
- Ground passenger transportation
- Other transportation and warehousing
- Car renting and leasing
- Finance
- Insurance
- Real estate and renting and leasing
Other Benefits
How do meetings and conventions benefit the community?
Meetings and conventions hosted at the Rogers Centre Ottawa create lasting benefits for Ottawa by:
- Meetings promote investment, trade, communications and technology
- Meetings bring education and professional development to the community
- Meetings promote and support other business sectors
- Meetings attract global expertise
- Meetings build community profile
- Meetings represent the high end of visitor spending
Think Ottawa
What is Think Ottawa?
Think Ottawa is a collaborative initiative led by Ottawa Tourism, Invest Ottawa, and the Rogers Centre Ottawa that helps attract national and international conferences, conventions, and business events to Canada's Capital.
The program connects leaders from industry, academia, government, and the non-profit sector to help secure events that showcase local expertise, strengthen key industries, and create economic opportunities for Ottawa.
Think Ottawa provides support throughout the event bidding and planning process, including:
- Bid preparation and proposal support
- Funding opportunities
- Attendance and delegate engagement strategies
- Connections with local industry experts and partners
- Event planning resources and destination expertise
Together, these services help bring world-class conferences and conventions to Ottawa while supporting the city’s visitor economy and business community.
Think Ottawa Gala
The Think Ottawa Gala celebrates the ongoing success of the Think Ottawa Program, a collaboration between the Rogers Centre Ottawa, Ottawa Tourism, and Invest Ottawa. Since launching in 2019, the program has supported local leaders in attracting major international conferences by providing strategic resources such as bid development, venue coordination, and marketing support.
