New hotels in Sudbury will ease accommodation crunch

The tourism sector in Sudbury appears to be thriving, as several new hotels are planned for the city.

It will be a welcome relief for sports teams, companies and organization that need accommodation for a lot of people in the regional hub.

This past weekend there were no hotel rooms to be had in Sudbury, as the annual Silver Stick hockey tournament brought more than 1,000 young hockey players to the city.

Organizer Chantal Levesque said some out-of -town teams had to commute because there was nowhere to stay.

“From West Nipissing, West Ferris area, we get 10-plus teams. And we can't accomodate them,” she said.

“I would love to be able to give them the option at least to stay in a hotel, because that's part of the experience of an out of town tournament.”

The manager of tourism and culture for the City of Greater Sudbury said there are three major hotel projects currently under discussion for the New Sudbury area of the city.

“The fact that these companies are looking at hotels in our area speaks to the strength of the economy,” Meredith Armstrong said.

“These companies do a ton of research on the market before they put a shovel in the ground. So the fact that they are this close to development is a really good thing for us.”

Armstrong said business travel is still the strongest driver for hotel stays in the city, but:

“There are events that happen in Sudbury either sports tournaments or meetings and conventions that fill our hotels for sure. So there is room for added inventory.”

The new hotels are expected to be located on the Kingsway and Lasalle Boulevard, near the heart of the city's retail sector.