BANFF – Banff & Lake Louise Tourism is looking to protect summer revenue for business and increase visitation in the quieter shoulder and winter seasons.
These are the top two objectives of a three-year strategy framework to guide Banff & Lake Louise Tourism’s (BLLT) actions in the region, which currently sees more than four million visitors a year.
In terms of boosting summer revenue, tourism officials say the plan is to do this by protecting the area’s reputation and enhancing visitor experience – which has taken a hit in recent years due to traffic congestion and over-crowding in summer.
“I just want to be really, really clear here that this is about creating value in the destination and value for members, and this is not – and I underscore in all caps – not about driving more people to come to Banff in the summer,” said Leslie Bruce, BLLT’s president and CEO in a March 25 presentation to Banff town council.
“We know that protecting the destination’s reputation is absolutely critical now and in the future. We’re really working hard in the summer with our partners with Parks and the Town to get people to plan ahead, to inform people before they arrive what we expect of them and how to best experience this place.”
Bruce said summer tourism is being driven by regional day visitors, noting BLLT is working with the Town of Banff and Parks Canada to get visitors to take transit.
“In fact, we don’t market to those day visitors,” she said.
“That becomes, I think, what one would call a halo effect of the work that our destination has done to build a reputation to be this incredible place, but the reality is the growing population of Calgary is one of the biggest drivers of the visitation in the summer.”
The Town of Banff is funding BLLT to the tune of $7.3 million in 2023, $7.4 million in 2025 and $7.55 million in 2026.
This is done through schedule B of the business licence bylaw, which funnels those fees to BLLT under a contract. The current contract is in place until Jan. 1, 2029.
Mayor Corrie DiManno, who sits on BLLT’s board of directors, appreciated mention that BLLT is not marketing to drive summer visitation.
“I think that that’s a misconception in the community,” she said.
Another core objective of BLLT is to generate demand for overnight stays in winter.
Bruce said BLLT’s biggest opportunity is to create more sustained visitation in the winter and shoulder seasons.
She said attracting visitors on weekends has been successful, but “weekdays are still quiet.”
“They are a huge opportunity. The winter campaign that we launched this year encourages guests to stay midweek or extend their weekend,” she said.
“We’ve added a calendar of events that has really been strategically timed in order to encourage regional visitors to stay the night as we do rely heavily still on the regional visitor in the winter.”
Bruce said the accommodation sector is operating at 10 per cent lower occupancy in summer than in 2019 pre-COVID-19 pandemic.
“There’s no pressure or drive from our board in the accommodation sector to get back to the levels of 2019. … We’re looking at how do we make the businesses viable and profitable year-round,” she said.
“These peaks and valleys are really hard on us, not only because of the volume of people in the summer, but trying to create sustainable business models in an environment where it’s very much on and off.”
The organization plans to go after international guests, such as the U.S., who tend to spend more than regional visitors, while also encouraging regional visitors to come midweek or add a Friday to their stay.
“The U.S. has got tremendous potential for us,” said Bruce.
“If we have one visitor that will come and spend 30 per cent more than another visitor without taking up more space, they are a more valuable visitor.”
Bruce said BLLT has a partnership with SkiBig3.
“We have a tremendous opportunity, particularly in the US to attract skiers,” she said.
“Frankly, as hard as this year was for snow, we’ve become known as a place that has reliable snow and so internationally that is proving to be something to give us optimism about.”
BLLT is also trying to attract other winter lovers, not just skiers.
“We really have a place where there is so much more to do than ski – whether that’s hiking or dog sledding or food and beverage or cultural experiences,” Bruce said.
An important part of increasing winter tourism, Bruce said, is also centred on generating stable employment.
“Our industry has asked us to find ways to create the demand that would allow them to be able to create long-term stable employment,” she said.
“We see that as a major outcome possibility through this strategy.”
Coun. Hugh Pettigrew said he appreciated increasing winter and shoulder season tourism is good for business and for more sustainable employment, but worried about the pressure that may place on Banff’s existing housing shortfall.
“We’re dealing with serious topics of housing and density and more housing requirements in this town, and we know we have shortages,” he said.
“Is there going to be impact to housing with more work? Will we need more staff?”
Based on feedback from BLLT members, Bruce said assumptions have been made that demand in winter will not mean net new additional staffing.
“It’s the ability to keep people employed and bridge from summer through to winter, through the shoulder season,” she said.
“As such, that person doesn’t need another room in a house, or need to rent another place, they are able to stay in place and that is currently the hypothesis we’re working on,”
Rounding out the top three and four objectives in the plan are championing the visitor experience and moving ahead on the 10-year vision for tourism, which was released in 2023.
Examples of enhancing visitor experience in Banff during summer months is a commitment to the return of the Art In Nature Trail along the Bow River and sponsoring Indigenous-led programming.
“We think it’s really important to create that platform to allow Indigenous artists to showcase their offers and their experiences,” Bruce said.
BLLT plans to hire up to almost 20 staff this summer for the visitor services team – online, in-person, riding the Roam bus and at visitor centres.
“We are actually one of the few DMOs (destination marketing organizations) in the country that still runs such a robust visitor service program,” she said.
“It’s a testament to the program and the accessibility to find us and really be where the visitor is.”
