Calgary is seeing an increase in foreign visitors following a busy summer.

An unprecedented number of foreign visitors to Calgary has resulted from a busy summer travel season and the Calgary Stampede.

According to data released by Tourism Calgary, up to 8.7 million visitors will visit the city by year’s end, generating an estimated $3.2 billion in economic effect.

An increase in foreign visitors by 17%, many of them are coming from the United States, Mexico, Germany, the United Kingdom, and other countries, is largely responsible for that spending.

A portion of those visiting from abroad attended the Calgary Stampede, which saw 1,477,953 attendees, smashing its record attendance.

While the foreign figures are positive, local tourism is not growing at the same rate as tourism abroad, according to Jeff Hesselc, vice-president of marketing at Tourism Calgary.

“We are seeing a little bit of a softening there as people are now traveling farther and to other destinations around the world,” Hessel said.

Although domestic tourism increased by 4.5%, Hessel notes that this expansion was less rapid than in previous years.

The goal of Calgary’s tourism sector is to draw more visitors in the spring and fall in order to extend the travel season. This is something that the recently completed BMO Centre extension should be able to assist with.

“A really big area of growth is meetings and conventions,” Hessel stated. “The BMO Centre expansion opened in June, and in order to actually bring in more people to Calgary throughout the year, we’re looking at ways to bring in conventions and events at times of the year like September and in the spring.”

According to Hessel, the city will already play host to 25 sizable gatherings or conventions in September alone.