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'Blockbuster' year for tourism sector

BANFF – Banff and Lake Louise’s tourism sector had a “blockbuster” year in 2017 thanks to free admission to Canada’s national parks and a strong global economy.
Banff and Lake Louise had a “blockbuster” year, owing to free entry to Canada’s national parks and strong global economies.
Banff and Lake Louise had a “blockbuster” year, owing to free entry to Canada’s national parks and strong global economies.

BANFF – Banff and Lake Louise’s tourism sector had a “blockbuster” year in 2017 thanks to free admission to Canada’s national parks and a strong global economy.

That was the message delivered by David Roberts, chair of Banff & Lake Louise Tourism (BLLT), during its annual general meeting, April 17.

“2017 was the 150th year of our anniversary and was a blockbuster year for our destination, not just because we had free access to the park, but because the global economy was so very strong,” said Roberts.

He said U.S. visitation continued to grow while Australia and European markets also delivered. Visitors from new world markets also paid Banff and Lake Louise a visit thanks to direct flights from Mexico and China and new routes from the United States and Europe.

He credited last year’s success on BLLT’s new marketing strategies and its emphasis on visitor experience, including becoming the first destination marketing organization (DMO) to track online lead conversions and the first DMO in Canada to develop a Chinese app to support visitor experience.

“The organization met and exceeded all of the performance goals for the year,” said Roberts.

That being said he cautioned that there are challenges on the horizon, particularly when it comes to mitigating traffic congestion.

To improve the situation BLLT has partnered with Parks Canada and the Town of Banff to create a joint communications campaign to promote public transit in the park.

“The organization has and will support all initiatives designed to provide solutions to the vehicular congestion we experience thereby improving visitor experience,” said Roberts.

Financially, the organization also had a strong year increasing its revenue by about six per cent to just over $10 million, including $8.7 million in financial contributions through the tourism improvement fee and a portion of the fees collected from business licences.

The lodging sector contributed the lion’s share of the revenue with just over $7 million, followed by transportation, attractions and entertainment services, which contributed $580,000.

Total expenditures came in at $9.8 million leaving the organization with a $144,000 surplus for the year ending Dec. 31, 2017.

Looking forward to 2018 the organization is now in year three of its five-year business plan to bolster the number of visitors that come to Banff and Lake Louise.

Among its strategies BLLT has prioritized its targeted markets into three categories with a particular focus on markets it feels offers the most potential for growth, including the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, China and the rest of Canada.

“This doesn’t necessarily mean these are our largest markets today, but these are the markets that we are applying resources and energy to because we see that growth opportunity,” said Leslie Bruce, president and CEO for BLLT.

The destination marketing organization also has plans to bolster its investments and programs in Australia, Japan, South Korea, India, Germany and the Netherlands to maintain visitor numbers from those countries.

There are also plans in the works to capitalize on the French market, which it believes is a budding opportunity given Canada’s historic and linguistic ties with France.

“The French are now saying they love Quebec, but they’ve been there and seen that and they’re looking for bilingual experiences and national parks present that opportunity because of the federal government’s commitment to presenting experiences in French and English.”

Regionally, the organization has also expanded its marketing strategy to now include British Columbia, which it says is already paying off.

Beyond targeting people where they live, the destination marketing organization has also zeroed in on four niche markets, namely the ski, adventure, wellness and food tourism markets.

According to the organization’s winter survey from 2016-17, 69 per cent of respondents said the primarily purpose for their visit was to ski or snowboard and that they spent an average of 2.9 days doing those sports.

“The other thing we learned is that they want to do more than just ski,” said Bruce, adding adventure tourism presents a new opportunity to bolster the tourism sector.

“Learning and growth are the primary drivers for adventure enthusiasts and that really has to do with new experiences and primarily soft adventure, which would mean things like hiking and biking.”

According to United Nations World Tourism Organization, adventure tourism is expected to grow by 46 per cent by 2020.

BLLT also has plans to target wellness travellers, considered one of the fastest growing tourism markets in the world.

According to statistics provided by BLLT, the worldwide wellness industry grew by 10.6 per cent to $3.72 trillion from 2013-15. Breaking that down the average tourist spent $1,639 per trip in 2013, 59 per cent higher than what the average international tourist spends.

There are also plans in place to entice food travellers, which according to Destination Canada’s 2016 research, food and beverage services is one of the largest expenditures by tourists.

As part of its food tourism strategy, BLLT wants to establish a unique and authentic food identity or “taste of place” for Banff and Lake Louise.

“That is not to say now suddenly it’s all going to be the same, it’s not that, but it’s the idea of defining local,” said Bruce. “The big thing to keep in mind is this group of people they are interested in our stories, they’re interested in what we have to offer and what’s special about who we are and what we have to present.”

Other aspects of its food tourism strategy include assisting members to become market ready to meet the expectations of travellers, strengthen industry collaboration to create new and enriched food tourism offerings and build Banff National Park’s reputation as a food destination.

To increase overall visitation, BLLT’s plan is based on four pillars including generating year-round demand, brand marketing, strengthening industry collaboration and operating as a performance-based business.

When it comes to generating year-round demand, the organization would like to increase the average annual occupancy of hotels to 71.7 per cent.

To do so, BLLT wants to increase the number of room nights by 20,000 in the winter and shoulder seasons by promoting activities and bookings with travellers who are already in destination.

“If we can get more people to stay more nights, they will do more while they are in destination,” said Bruce.

Other tactics include generating 1.8 million in direct referrals to members through online leads using social media and other platforms.

The hope is that through these various different strategies visitation will continue to grow in 2018 leading to another successful year for the tourism sector.


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