CALGARY - Despite a devastating flood and some internal squabbling within the industry, tourism in Calgary was a booming business in 2013 - and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.

The numbers tell the story.

As of the end of November, there were 81,033 more hotel rooms sold in 2013 than in the same period in 2012.

“If anything, all the flood did was kind of define who we were, showed what we’re capable of and went on to kind of show the nation and all in the world that Calgary’s a pretty special place,” says Cindy Ady, chief executive of Tourism Calgary.

That special place attracted 7.5 million visitors and tourism spending of $1.6 billion in 2013.

“We’re always stronger when we hunt in a pack. That’s just the truth about tourism or in the space that we sit . . .When we partner, we’re stronger.”

It was a tumultous year for partners in the industry even before June’s destructive flood hammered the city.

At its annual general meeting in April, Tourism Calgary reported that 5.2 million visitors spent an estimated $1.4 billion in the city in 2012. But in a speech, during that meeting, Mayor Naheed Nenshi said that “parochialism and small-mindedness” within the city’s tourism sector needed to be addressed.

Less than one week after reporting the record-breaking year, Tourism Calgary replaced its chief executive Randy Williams. The organization, in announcing Williams’ abrupt departure, said he was being replaced on an interim basis by former Alberta Tourism Minister Ady.

Then in mid-May, the Calgary Hotel Association announced it was pulling its $2.5 million annual funding for Tourism Calgary and reallocating the money to other partners. About two-thirds of the association’s 63 members voluntarily contributed to the destination marketing fund. A three-year funding agreement, which was set to expire in December, was not going to be renewed, it said.

Ady was brought in to solve that one key stakeholder issue.

“I think there’s going to be a resolution and we’re getting close . . . For me, it’s about when we’re all working together . . . . I’m feeling a positive pull in that direction. That’s my mission in life, and what I’m here to accomplish, and I think we’re in a better place today than we were yesterday,” says Ady.

“Always within this space, it’s a matter of where you focus resources and energy and how do governance structures work together. And so in Calgary we’re trying to create something much like the Travel Alberta model where we create the opportunity for it to act and react like a business and to ensure that the right resources are going to the right places.”

Jon Jackson, executive director of the Calgary Hotel Association, says the group is committed to delivering the maximum return on investment to its members with the money that they’re providing to the destination marketing fund.

“We have been having discussions about a potential long-term partnership with Tourism Calgary with the goal of ensuring both short and long-term benefits to our members, the industry at large and the city as a whole. To that, we have made an offer to Tourism Calgary towards a partnership and they are currently considering it,” he says.