Is Calgary an international city?

[Wookie]

I remember being in London, England 10 years ago, walking down a high street and I saw a sunglass hut, on the window it said "sungluss hut international" and listed some cities

Paris
London
New York
Edmonton
Tokyo

I was astonished!

[CrusaderPi]

Originally Posted by Wookie

I remember being in London, England 10 years ago, walking down a high street and I saw a sunglass hut, on the window it said "sungluss hut international" and listed some cities

Paris
London
New York
Edmonton
Tokyo

I was astonished!

One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong.

Bloody French.

[Coach]

Vancouver is more recognized in the states because of the film industry there. And when ever someone talks about canada in a movie its one of Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Wookie

I remember being in London, England 10 years ago, walking down a high street and I saw a sunglass hut, on the window it said "sungluss hut international" and listed some cities

Paris
London
New York
Dirty Stinking Mulletville
Tokyo

I was astonished!

Fixed

[Jake]

Not many people here in the US seem to have even heard of Calgary... most of my friends are from either the New York/New Jersey area or California. Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto are the only ones that I think are well known in the US.

[Ryan Coke]

I have been surprised how many people around the world are familiar with Calgary because of the Stampede. I always figured the Olympics would be our bigger claim to fame, but I found the Stampede was much more so.

I was in the middle east about 10 years ago and they were actually having a Muscat Stampede (Oman) in honor of the Calgary version (more Camels, less Bulls). Totally blew me away, wasn't expecting a Calgary connection over there.

[3 Justin 3]

Originally Posted by Clarkey

I've found that Toronto and Vancouver are the 2 most recognized Canadian cities internationally.

I agree, on my recent Eurotrip when I would say Canada, most people thought Toronto right away, well almost all of them did. If not than they thought I was from Vancouver. But when I said Calgary a few people knew, but I would say no.

[Ozy_Flame]

Calgary is not an international city yet. I've been to alot of places (currently in Japan) and hardly anyone know about it. You have to say "in proximity to Vancouver" for them to understand the geography of where Cowtown is.

Of course, those that do know about Calgary have likely traveled to North America or Canada. And for those that have actually been there, most just pass on through or stay for only one night.

[QuadCityImages]

I think once you've hosted an Olympics you have the right to make that claim.

As an American that's never been to Canada, I would put my order of "most recognized Canadian cities" as:

Toronto
Montreal
Vancouver
Calgary
West Edmonton Mall...
Winnipeg, Ottawa, everything else.

Montreal making the top 2 may be biased by me being a baseball person.

[Kybosh]

I just want to point out that it takes more than name recognition to make an international city. There are a lot of places that are known worldwide for the wrong reasons.

[Flacker]

Originally Posted by CrusaderPi

One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong.

Bloody French.

The sign was in London, England!

What exactly does that have to do with the French??

[Nancy]

I would say "no"...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_class_city

[Byrns]

My cab driver this past February knew about Calgary. But he said he knew because of all the Hawaiian CFL players.

[Table 5]

Well, if living among Americans is any indication, I would say a resounding no. For the most part I'm always resigned to the fact that I have to explain that Vancouver is on the west side of the Rockies, and Calgary is on the east.....that at least gives people a general idea.

Euro's seem to know a little more about Canada it seems.

[Addick]

Like most things, the globalness of a city is not black or white/yes or no; there are varying degrees. One of the best and simplest ways that I can put it is, Calgary is not an international city but is internationally known. If you are a first time traveller going around the globe, you'd be surprised how many people actually know about Calgary considering its size. In some Western countries it could be as high 50%.

In the GaWC 2008 Inventory of World Cities, Calgary is categorized as a Gamma - City.

[icarus]

Having lived for the past three years on three different continents and telling people where I am from on a near-daily basis I would say Calgary is NOT an international city.

Generally people ask (usually after assuming I am American): "where in Canada are you from?" And generally people stare blankly when I say Calgary (which begs the question, why did they ask where in Canada in the first place?)

A lot of people have heard the name, but don't know where it is (Is that near Toronto? near Vancouver?). I just say near the Rocky Mountains.

Sometimes you luck out and someone knows about skiing, the Stampede, the Olympics, or--very rarely--the Calgary Flames.

But I've got the Guardian here and Calgary isn't listed on the weather page's world cities list and I think that is the true litmus test!

[Tyler]

Was just in London a couple weeks ago, and people were far more aware of where Vancouver was, than Calgary.

[Glenflame]

Originally Posted by HelloHockeyFans

From my experience, people internationally recognize Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto. Very few knew about Calgary except for Americans.

This is the reality.

Calgary is not well-known in the world.

[ok, ok,....I get it]

The doctor in Opatija, knew where it was, but he was also in Sarajevo for the Olympics........actually I am fine with not being a word class city.....

[HelloHockeyFans]

Who cares any way? We have a better hockey team than Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal! Also, we should downgrade Edmonton to town status.