The top female curlers in the country will descend on Penticton next weekend for the 2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
The national women’s curling championship will be held at the South Okanagan Events Centre from January 27th to February 4th.
The SOEC seats 5,000 people but that’s only a fraction of the Scotties audience with up to one million people expected to watch on television, according to event organizers.
Tourism officials say the major sporting event will give a boost to the local tourism and hospitality industry.
“We have an opportunity to host an event the size and duration of Scotties in the shoulder season, in the off season,” said Barb Haynes, Chairperson with Travel Penticton.
The Lakeside Resort and Conference Centre is the host hotel.
“We have a total of about 200 people totaling about 1700 room nights over those twelve days so a lot of new faces from around Canada that we get to meet and greet,” said Brannigan Mosses, Director of Regional Sales and Marketing with the hotel.
While it’s the first time Penticton will play host to the Scotties, the city is no stranger to major curling events.
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The arena was the venue for the Continental Cup in 2013.
Penticton mayor Andrew Jakubeit says the Scotties is another great opportunity to showcase the city.
“We’re investing $200,000 into the event, and if you look at Curling Canada’s reports from their past events, the economic impact is usually between $6-12 million,” he said.
Event organizer Neil Houston says curling is a beloved national sport with a major following.
“We as Canadians over the last few years have become more proud and more loud with regards to cheering on our Canadian championship teams that are going to lead us into world championships and/or Olympic games,” Houston said.
Houston adds while 50,000 tickets have been sold for 25 draws, there are still tickets available, so you may want to “hurry hard” if you don’t want to miss out on the action.
WATCH BELOW: Penticton to host 2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts
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