Tourists to Banff National Park and the townsite are generally very satisfied with their experience, but struggle with the value for money in retail stores, restaurants, hotels, museums and other paid attractions.
That’s according to the new Indexperience visitor experience survey, which was completed by Zins Beauchesne and Associates for Banff Lake Louise Tourism, the Town of Banff and Parks Canada.
The study, which included surveys in winter and summer 2015, also showed visitors were less satisfied with a lack of parking and washrooms in the townsite, as well as concerned about big crowds throughout the park and value for money for what they pay in entry fees.
Tourism officials say the average overall satisfaction score for Banff is 9.05 in summer and 8.61 in winter on a scale of one to 10.
“The number is really high compared to other tourist destinations,” said Nancy DaDalt, director of in-resort services for Banff Lake Louise Tourism, which took the lead on the survey.
“We are doing really strongly as a destination, but there are opportunities to increase visitor experience. There are areas to celebrate and areas to put more focus on.”
There were 1,277 respondents to the winter visitor satisfaction survey and 1,187 for the summer one. A huge chunk of those visitors said they planned on returning to Banff National Park.
Visitors appreciate how pretty, clean and how easy it is to walk about the Banff townsite. They also indicated they feel very safe in the community, are very impressed by the viewpoints and love the entertainment.
The survey found the main reasons people came to Banff in winter 2015 were to downhill ski and snowboard, (79 per cent), while the remaining visitors came to experience the park itself.
As for non-sporting events, two thirds of visitors walked around town, half went shopping and a third went sightseeing.
While visitors are less satisfied with the value for money at shops, restaurants and accommodations, DaDalt said they were more impressed in the areas of animation and pageantry, particularly in summer.
“Where can we add value or what’s perceived value in our destination,” she said. “Is there an opportunity we can do more in winter, to surprise and delight them, so that people perceive their value is higher?”
Banff’s governance and finance committee, made up entirely of mayor council, has directed administration to present to council a report with recommendations for follow-up of the Indexperience survey in advance of service review and capital budget deliberations.
Mayor Karen Sorensen said she wants to understand what areas the Town of Banff needs to be paying attention to.
“I think it’s washrooms,” she said, but noted visitors were more satisfied with the availability of washrooms last year than during the last survey in 2008-09, which led the Town to rebuild new washrooms at Central Park.
A lack of parking spaces was also an issue for visitors.
“What I find interesting is not only was their satisfaction low, but their expectations were low,” said Sorensen.
“There does seem to be knowledge around the fact that in a tourism-based community, parking is going to be challenging. It doesn’t make it OK, but it’s interesting.”
Coun. Stavros Karlos said he was not happy with the presentation of the survey, wanting it sent back to the consultants to do more work and clearly lay out how things have improved or not for visitors since the last survey.
“I don’t think this report is helpful to us as it’s done right now, “ he said.
