Reach locals and visitors by submitting your tourist-friendly event to Ottawa Tourism!
General guidelines
Provide clear and complete details to make your event stand out:
- Provide information about your event in both English and French if possible.
- Submit a valid event website URL, a venue address, and high-quality images.
- Submit your event:
- Members: at least three weeks in advance
- Non-members: at least one month in advance
If anything changes after submission, notify us immediately.
To keep the event calendar engaging and relevant for visitors, we will focus on listing events that highlight our city's spirit and offer unique experiences. Some recurring events we previously accepted may no longer be listed to prevent overcrowding the calendar.
Ottawa Tourism may select events to feature in the "What's Happening This Week in Ottawa" newsletter. Selected events typically appeal to both visitors and locals, span multiple days, or—if single-day—attract a large audience.
Tip: If your event recurs with a theme (e.g., a festival series), submit it as a single listing and indicate all dates in the Event Date Details field.
Event eligibility
To be eligible, your event should:
- Appeal to a broad audience (quirky or unique events that showcase Ottawa’s diversity are welcome!).
- Be open for tourists to participate (events requiring pre-registration are discouraged unless they also attract many spectators).
- Take place within the Ottawa region.
- Have a dedicated event landing page.
Events that are not accepted
- Business deals or promotions (e.g. happy hours, dining specials, coupons)
- Regular classes, courses, or permanent exhibitions and tours
- Small craft shows
- Fundraisers, benefits, or galas
- Political, religious, or networking events
- Meetings, conferences, seminars, or workshops
- Job fairs, summer camps, or auditions
- Book signings, demonstrations, karaoke, bingo, or trivia nights
Note: Events must comply with all applicable laws, City of Ottawa by-laws, and policies.
Event description requirements
When writing your event description:
- Minimum 50 words
- Exclude dates, times, or pricing (unless the event is free).
- Focus on the visitor experience — what makes your event fun, exciting, or memorable!
- Keep it short and written in third person.
- Avoid repeating the event title or location.
Image submission requirements
Images are important! Make sure yours meets these requirements:
- Formats: JPG or PNG
- Dimensions: thumbnail (985px width, 554px height) and header (1500px width, 375px height)
- No text on images
Reminder: Flyers and posters will be rejected.
Tip: Use iloveimg.com/crop-image to adjust your image before submitting!
Ottawa Tourism reserves the right to crop, resize, or reject submitted images. By submitting a photo, you grant Ottawa Tourism permission to use it in promotional efforts to showcase Ottawa as a destination.
Event refusal and removal policy
Links to other websites and ads
The Ottawa Tourism Event Calendar may display links or ads for websites that are not under our control. These links are provided solely for the convenience of users. Ottawa Tourism is not responsible for the information found through these links, nor does it endorse the sites or their content. For more information, please see our Disclaimer of Endorsement.
Refusal and removal policy
Ottawa Tourism reserves the right to refuse or remove any event submissions from its Events Calendar, without recourse or explanation, that:
- Misrepresent themselves;
- Express any type of hate, including but not limited to racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, slanderous or insulting language, or contain life-threatening messages;
- Are defamatory or put forward serious, unproven or inaccurate accusations against individuals or organizations;
- Are aggressive, coarse, violent, obscene or pornographic;
- Are offensive, rude or abusive to an individual or an organization;
- Suggest or encourage illegal activity;
- Are contrary to local, provincial or federal law, including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms;
- Contain announcements from and partisanship for labour or political organizations;
- Are unintelligible or irrelevant;
- Are repetitive or spam.
Contact
For any questions relating to with our Event Calendar policy, please Contact us.
