High school swimming finals push local hotels to full capacity
With more than 2,100 high school athletes rolling into Windsor for the Ontario swimming championships this week, the local hotel industry is overwhelmed — in part due to hundreds of rooms already housing asylum seekers.
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The Windsor International Aquatic and Training Center is hosting the two-day Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association finals this week, resulting in nearly every area hotel in Windsor and Essex County reaching full capacity.
While this is great news for the local hospitality industry, some of the athletes and their families may have been forced to seek hotel occupancy further from the city center than they might have preferred, said Gordon Orr, CEO of Tourism Windsor-Essex Pelee Island.
“Sports tourism and such an event are undoubtedly very important for our region,” he said. “It’s a short-term deal but really leverages all aspects of our tourism industry – accommodation, food and drink, and attractions.
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“For a sporting event like this, 2,151 athletes have signed up to stay two nights. The occupancy of our hotel rooms is important, especially in the middle of the week and in the middle of the winter months. It can certainly bring a nice economic return.”
The area has around 3,300 hotel rooms to offer so the sporting event wouldn’t normally be a problem in terms of accommodations, but in recent weeks hotels across the area have also been averaging a few hundred rooms per night. said Orr.
“The asylum seekers have certainly increased our hotel occupancy and continuously filled the rooms,” he said. “This is good news, but we also know that there are problems during these OFSAA Championships when people are further away from the event than they would like.
“Normally, hotels would have enough rooms to handle everything in the city center. However, it is also important that the asylum seekers generate income for our hotel properties – especially in the off-season in winter. We’re one region (in Windsor and Essex County) so we’ve been able to host these finals and have space for both.”