A new plan calls for more washrooms, dealing with summer parking woes and an even better bus system to help Banff remain a top tourist destination in a highly competitive market.
These are just some of the goals of the updated Visitor Experience Plan, recently presented to Banff council, to help the tourist town make sure visitors are having a good experience.
Officials say the international tourism market has become increasingly competitive and a recent Indexperience survey provides new insight into visitor needs and to what extent their expectations are being met.
“I have always believed that if we have visitors in Banff having positive experiences, then that’s what makes our town successful,” said Banff Mayor Karen Sorensen.
“We’ve learned from our visitors through the Indexperience survey and now we need to put some of those findings into play.”
The Visitor Experience Plan, updated for the first time since 2006, calls for Banff’s public bus system, known as Roam, to shift from a service to more of an experience for visitors.
Ways to do that include investigating the use of audio and GPS technology to tell the stories of Banff and working towards expanding bus routes and schedules to reflect visitor needs.
For example, the plan suggests routes could include destinations and trailheads in the area known as the Lands Adjacent to the Town of Banff, to the Banff Rec Centre, Banff Cave and Basin and The Banff Centre.
Officials say Roam – the town’s energy efficient, hybrid transit system that is distinctively wrapped in authentic Banff National Park wildlife imagery – is already a wonderful experience.
But, there’s always room for improvement. In fact, Banff’s transit information is now available at your fingertips no matter where you are, with the release of Google Transit for Roam. Google’s public transit trip planner integrates Roam’s service schedule, routes and stops with Google Maps.
“I think transit is an excellent place to spend time and energy – one, for environmental reasons, and two, for parking reasons so we have fewer vehicles downtown,” said Mayor Sorensen.
“Having a frequent transit system in Banff is also very important. If we can assist with the visitor experience so that it’s not just a bus system and it’s educational and fun, then so much the better.”
The Visitor Experience Plan also supports the transition of Banff’s taxi service to more of an experience.
One way to do that is to work with cab companies to encourage a shift to more environmentally friendly vehicles, such as hybrids, and to investigate the potential of offering incentives to taxi companies who make that shift.
As well, the plan also talks about offering a user-pay service to taxi companies that would provide Town of Banff standard vehicle wrap, similar to the Roam wrap, depicting wildflowers or birds of Banff National Park.
In addition, the plan considers the development of making Banff’s roads and streets more of an attraction.
Ways of doing that could include sculptured street signage such as a sign shaped like a majestic animal on Big Horn Street, or sidewalk fossils such as squirrel tracks on the occasional sidewalk block on Squirrel Street. Decorative imagery could also go over manhole covers. For example, bears on manhole covers on Bear Street.
The plan talks also about increasing the availability of washrooms and making visitors more aware of where existing toilets are, as well as working with businesses to increase the number of washrooms available to the public.
Officials say that due to a shift in priorities by council, Parks Canada and Banff Lake Louise Tourism, there has more recently been a greater emphasis on enhancing the experience that visitors have in Banff.
Pageantry, animation and special events have been given a greater focus.
They say the municipality needs to make a greater investment in initiatives focusing on visitors, ranging from working with tourism partners, to a shared vision to better visitor facilities.
Bruce Marpole, the Town’s visitor experience coordinator, said the Visitor Experience Plan maps out the municipality’s role in the delivery of visitor experiences.
As well, he said it provides goals and strategies to help achieve the visitor experience goals of the Banff Community Plan – the social, economic and environmental blueprint that guides Banff.
“An original Visitor Experience Plan was first presented to council in 2006. The plan’s goals and strategies will be reviewed and tactics will be updated annually,” said Marpole.
