Delta Announces Thunder Bay Hotel and Conference Centre Development



Delta CEO Ken Greene Admires the Architectural rendering of the new
Delta Thunder Bay opening in 2014.

 Today was a great day for tourism investment in Thunder Bay and a much anticipated next step in connecting visitors to our spectacular waterfront.  Delta Hotels has officially announced that they will be managing and operating the Delta Thunder Bay Hotel and Conference Centre to be located at Prince Arthur's Landing.

The addition of a new 4-star upscale property in Thunder is good news for a hospitality sector that has seen steady year over year growth since 2010 and is poised to continue expanding as the city's economy continues to grow with the growth of the health sciences, mining, transportation and tourism sectors.  With our occupancy rate just shy of 74% in 2011, it remained one of Canada's highest rates and demand this year continues to be strong.

The Delta property will feature one hundred and fifty rooms including eighteen penthouse suites, pool, fitness centre, and nine thousand square feet of meeting space including a five thousand square foot ball room.  The project is being managed and operated by Delta in collaboration with building owner Resolve Group.  The building design is by Brook Mcilroy and will be built by Manshield Construction of Thunder Bay.

It was encouraging to see such a great turn out for the media event this morning as well, with members of the local business community including those from other local hotel properties in attendance to see the renderings and meet Delta officials.  The Delta name has strong brand recognition across Canada and from a brand alignment perspective, strong brands in our market enhances our community's overall tourism reputation that will bring benefits beyond the branded properties.  In a market where we continuously see interest from event organizers to host lager corporate and sport events, more room and meeting space inventory and a culture of hotels working with each other is essential to expanding our community's tourism economic footprint. 

In addition to the obvious benefits, bringing an average of one hundred and fifty to two hundred visitors downtown overnight is critical to downtown revitalization, increases our community's tax assessment revenues and creates direct and ancillary employment opportunities.  Its an investment that has merits well beyond tourism.

In reading the media release issued by Delta Hotels this morning, its clear Delta understands the value of the location and the importance of our natural environment as our major tourism asset.  Referencing Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, the proposed Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area and easy access to wilderness experiences, Delta understands how to make the important connection between urban amenities and the outdoor experiences and compliments our tourism strategy that positions Thunder Bay as Canada's premier outdoor city.  Weaving the urban and outdoor experiences together cvan be challenging but Thunder Bay is becoming well known in sustainable tourism circles for being able to successfully undertake this approach. Our natural environment is a backdrop to hosting unconventional conventions that get delegates out of windowless meeting rooms and gives leisure visitors the opportunity to marvel at our world class waterfront, take in a sailing of fishing charter just meters from their hotel and experience the growing culinary and cultural scene in the Waterfront District.

You can read the Delta release here.