BANFF – Banff & Lake Louise Tourism’s new business plan for 2022 focuses on rebuilding year-round visitation to the national park coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This includes a priority by Banff & Lake Louise Tourism (BLLT) on marketing to visitors from the region – Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan – who were a lifeline to hard hit national park businesses throughout the pandemic, as well as a focus to promote visitation in winter and the busier summer months.
Pre-pandemic, BLLT did not aggressively go after summer tourism because most of the park’s 4.1 million annual visitors already came in summer resulting in overcrowding and congestion. Instead, the marketing organized focused on increasing visitation in shoulder seasons.
Officials say BLLT will continue prioritizing the Canadian market to offset the loss of international tourists, while the regional market will remain vitally important as uncertainty around international travel prompts Albertans to continue exploring their own backyard.
“First and foremost, what we really want to do is rebuild year-round demand,” said Nancy DaDalt, director of visitor experience for BLLT during a presentation to Banff town council on Feb. 14.
BLLT’s 2022 budget includes $9.9 million in revenues and $12.5 million in expenditures, with the board of directors making an intentional plan for a short-term deficit to be covered off by reserves to go hard on marketing now.
Tourism officials say industry reports indicate that Banff and Lake Louise is on track for accelerated recovery from the pandemic compared to Canada as a whole, noting the deficit is a result of efforts to take advantage of early demand and compete in the crowded marketplace.
“The $2 million deficit will be funded from our reserves and the reserves are in the region of about $5 million,” said Mandy Grant, BLLT’s director of finance and administration.
“This is so we can get out there and be marketing and be competitive now to get our share of the market.”
The focus of the plan includes marketing to rebuild awareness and immediate visitation to the national park and the townsite.
The plan also includes dedicated resources to longer-term planning for a sustainable tourism destination. This year, BLLT hopes to complete work on a tourism master plan for Banff National Park with input from tourism leaders, businesses, Parks Canada, the Town of Banff, residents and visitors. Group NAO, a firm known for its work on sustainable tourism development, is helping with the plan.
Through this process, BLLT will clarify its purpose and examine the organization’s future scope, framing how it will work with stakeholders and the community to deliver “responsible future growth of the visitor economy.”
The plan also looks to review BLLT’s funding model and potential for improving financial stability.
“It’s a huge project and an important project for us as a community,” said Angela Anderson, BLLT’s director of media and communications.
“It is going to be a guide as we develop a sustainable future of our tourism in the park.”
Pre-pandemic, with tourism climbing to more than 4.1 million visitors a year and a growing economy, living where the world visits was taking a toll on the community, with residents struggling to maintain quality of life.
Residents became frustrated with overcrowding and congestion and the toll increased visitation was having on the park’s treasured wildlife, with increasing conflicts and encounters between people and wildlife like bears and wolves.
Banff Mayor Corrie DiManno said she felt an “overwhelming sense of hope” as she read BLLT’s business plan.
“Your principles, initiatives, objectives, they are strong,” said DiManno, who as mayor automatically sits on BLLT’s board of directors as a Town of Banff representative.
“I am so excited about this tourism master plan. It’s going to be a vision that guides us into the future.”
According to BLLT’s business plan, the experience of travelling will remain challenging throughout 2022.
Regional and Canadian visitors will continue to be an important market due to their proximity to Banff National Park and the high vaccination rates, and for longer haul Canadians, air access to the Calgary International Airport as domestic flights return sooner than international.
Looking to 2023, international markets are anticipated to return to more normal travel patterns for resort destinations. It is predicted that business travel will be slower to recover from the effects of the pandemic.
“For 2022, we have really seen signals that the travel market will predominantly be domestic, but we’re also seeing strong signals of return of the U.S. market,” said Courtney Babott, director of marketing for BLLT.
“We’re also seeing that international travel is continuing to open based on travel restrictions and mandates that are lifting.”
In order to build year-round visitation for Banff and Lake Louise, Babott said the three strategic marketing initiatives include summer, winter and regional.
Firstly, for summer to be a success, she said BLLT must champion efforts to manage congestion.
“We placed a bullseye on our efforts to extend travellers’ length of stay during the summer months, but also to help increase their spend while here in destination,” Babott said.
Secondly, BLLT will have a strategic focus on winter.
While skiing has been a primary motivator for trips to Banff and Lake Louise in winter, it is not the only driver. Health and wellness, food and the great outdoors will remain top criteria for travellers in 2022.
“Winter spans 20 weeks of the year from the November to April period, which is really critical to our destination as it provides our greatest opportunity for growth,” said Babott.
“We have an opportunity to grow beyond the ski audience and target travellers who are looking for unique winter and snow experiences.”
Lastly, the plan focuses on luring regional visitors from Alberta, B.C., and Saskatchewan for 12 weeks of the year during the spring and fall seasons.
While there is a large group that will continue to visit the area for day trips, BLLT plans to continue creating reasons to stay longer in hotels.
“This market segment has really been the backbone of our visitation prior to the pandemic, but also has really carried the destination through the pandemic as we recover through into 2022,” said Babott.
“We've adapted some really critical strategies to ensure that we’re attracting this audience to the destination in those critical need periods of the year… trying to extend that stay and having more for them to do by placing really strategic events and animation happening throughout the destination.”
In Canada, Ontario continues to be the region’s third largest source of travellers, while Québec has risen in importance from eighth spot pre-pandemic to fifth in 2021. The metro regions of Toronto and Montreal are both top sources of visitors to Banff National Park.
“While trying local food and drink is the preferred activity on vacation for travellers from Ontario, Québec prefers hiking or walking in nature,” according to BLLT’s 2022 business plan. “Natural attractions are the top trip anchor for all Canadian travellers.”
As for regional travellers, Albertans have consistently been the most bullish on travel of any Canadian province during the pandemic, with the highest repeat visitation.
“While they have shorter stays on average and are the most price sensitive, they seem to participate in more of what Banff and Lake Louise have to offer,” states the plan.
After Alberta, B.C. is the park’s second largest tourism market, before the pandemic and since. When combined with Saskatchewan, the region accounted for 40-45 per cent of visits pre-pandemic, rising to more than 80 per cent since COVID-19 began.
“They are willing to travel inter-provincially; however, British Columbia has been cautious through the pandemic with consistently the lowest intent to travel outside the Atlantic provinces,” states the business plan. “Natural attractions are also a top trip anchor for the regional visitor, with trying local food and drink, and hiking or walking in nature as the top vacation activities.”
As for the United States, four of the top five activities American travellers want to experience on vacation are nature-based, including seeing natural attractions, hiking or walking visiting nature parks and viewing wildlife.
American tourists are most likely to travel to Canada in July and August, but also report higher interest in visiting in the spring and fall seasons.
“The top five cities travelling here include New York City, San Francisco and area, Seattle, Los Angeles and Houston,” according to the business plan.
BLLT’s highest priority for international travellers is the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia.
Pre-pandemic, the U.K. was Canada’s largest long-haul market with almost 800,000 arrivals in 2018 – a five-year high – and was Alberta’s second largest international market in terms of expenditures. Tourists from the U.K. on average spend close to $1,500 per trip and stay for about 12 nights.
“U.K. leisure travellers enjoy trying local food and drink, experiencing nature-based experiences, seeing historical or world heritage sites and exploring Indigenous culture,” states the business plan.
Australia was Alberta’s fourth largest market in terms of spending habits before the pandemic hit. Australian tourists spend roughly just over $2,400 per trip, staying for an estimated 18 nights on average. Top activities for Australians include sampling local food and drink, nature, seeing sites of historical significance and visiting city-based attractions such as city green spaces, art galleries and museums.
Annual arrivals from Germany reached 406,000 in 2018, making it the best year for German arrivals to Canada since 1996. With an average spend of more than $1,700 per trip, German travellers spend more than any of BLLT’s other European markets and typically stay for 15 days.
“Top experiences for German leisure travellers include sampling local food and drink, summer and fall outdoor experiences, exploring Indigenous culture, city tours and exploring places other tourists won’t go,” states the business plan. “We recognize restrictions and travel ability will likely change through the year and we will adjust our priorities accordingly.”
