Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest enhances offerings for the 2024 and 2025 festivals to drive tourism and economic growth
Each year, Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest (K-W Oktoberfest), Canada's largest Bavarian festival, attracts upwards of 700,000 visitors annually to their family and cultural events. The festival is vital to the region, helping to boost the local economy and support local businesses, while highlighting the area's German heritage.
Today, Bryan May, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Small Business and to the Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) and Member of Parliament for Cambridge, along with the Honourable Bardish Chagger, Member of Parliament for Waterloo, Valerie Bradford, Member of Parliament for Kitchener South - Hespeler, and Tim Louis, Member of Parliament for Kitchener - Conestoga, attended K-W Oktoberfest's Willkommen Platz 2024 event. PS May and MP Chagger announced support for K-W Oktoberfest to expand offerings and enhance the tourism experience. The announcement was made on behalf of the Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario.
With an investment of $200,000 through the Tourism Growth Program, K-W Oktoberfest has developed new group tourism packages, including a new partnership with Go Transit to offer a dedicated, two-way weekend service from the Greater Toronto Area to the Waterloo Region. Called the "LederGOsen Line", this new service is helping to bring out-of-region tourists along the Toronto-Kitchener corridor to the festival. This investment is also supporting the addition of new events that bring more tourists and overnight stays, including a road hockey tournament, which will take place as part of the Fall 2025 festival.
This investment is helping to make events more accessible for visitors and expanding the festival offerings for future growth, resulting in positive spillover benefits for the economies of Kitchener-Waterloo and surrounding regions.
