LEAD TOURISM FOR GOOD


10-YEAR VISION FOR TOURISM IN BANFF AND LAKE LOUISE

Why A 10-Year Vision For Tourism?

Together with the wider community, Banff & Lake Louise Tourism and the Town of Banff, in partnership with Parks Canada, have developed a 10-Year Vision for Tourism for the destination. The Vision will serve as a guidepost as we collectively develop our approach to tourism in Banff National Park for the next 10 years and beyond. The document itself addresses environmental sustainability, community wellbeing, cultural integrity, and economic prosperity. The Vision is intended to complement other long-range plans; such as the Parks Management Plan and municipal plans.

Project Updates

Engagement & Research

Independent Survey Findings Summary

 

The engagement and research process included three surveys: of Banff National Park residents, tourism employees in the destination, and tourism industry partners, with more than 2,000 responses in total. Group NAO, an internationally recognized research and innovation company, supported the process and completed the research as an independent third party. At the Open House event in November 2022, they shared this overview of their findings.

Read the full background reports from each survey here:

Banff National Park Resident Survey

Tourism Industry Partner Survey

Tourism Employee Survey

Sun Charts

The first phase of the Tourism Together Working Groups’ efforts was ideation. Five Working Groups generated 567 ideas, before prioritizing two or three each to take forward as recommendations to the Future of Tourism Forum. These ‘Sun Charts’ visually represent the topics and themes addresses in those original 567 ideas. The charts are divided into key themes:

  • Smart Tourism
  • Sustainability
  • Transport
  • Indigenous Connections
  • Education
  • Work & Housing
  • Community
  • Accessibility
  • Experience

View the Sun Charts here.

Note: These Sun Charts were produced prior to the conclusion of the Indigenous Tourism Working Group sessions. The Working Group’s recommendations were instead shared at the Tourism Together Community Open House event on November 21, 2022.

Surveys

A stakeholder survey, open between March 8 and April 14, 2022, was designed to help us understand the future readiness, key areas of priority, and expectations for the shared future vision of tourism in Banff National Park. We asked a broad range of tourism industry stakeholders to participate, including our members, their employees, our partners and other destination management organizations.

A community survey was released on May 26, 2022, to help us gather input from residents of Banff National Park. We are grateful to all those who call this place home for sharing their views.

A tourism employee survey, in partnership with the Banff & Lake Louise Hospitality Association, was open from July 27 to August 28, 2022. It was designed to help improve employees’ experiences and opportunities as part of our community and workforce; and to provide employers with insights to help improve recruitment, retention and the wider employee lifecycle.

Working Groups

To develop specific recommendations for the 10-Year Vision for Tourism, we formed six Working Groups, each addressing one the following key themes: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Future Destination Brand & Values, Indigenous Tourism, Innovating Tourism, Live, Work & Community, and Sustainability.

The Working Groups include members of the community and tourism industry stakeholders, tasked with collaborating to build shared understanding, identify collective priorities, and co-develop a number of meaningful joint recommendations. These recommendations are an important part of the 10-Year Vision for Tourism’s process, and were presented at a “Future of Tourism” Forum in June 2022. The Indigenous Tourism Working Group was formed in May and will provide its recommendations later in the year.