Banff Heritage Tourism Strategy
by Holly Quan

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In the confusion and frustration currently surrounding tourism, especially ecotourism, here is a story of promise and hope. The Banff Heritage Tourism Strategy (HTS) a community-based tourism initiative that has tremendous potential to help overcome the destruction caused by too many people in a fragile place.

The residents and businesses of Banff are approaching the sticky and difficult question of preserving a magnificent natural environment while embracing tourism, allowing tourism-based businesses to grow while recognizing limits, and allowing visitors to have an authentic and possibly life-changing experience through connection with a special place. The issues are large and complex -- and not a little contentious.

SETTING THE STAGE: TROUBLE IN PARADISE

Of those who visit the park, only a small proportion get off the streets, out of the shops or off of the ski slopes to actually experience the wilderness first-hand. For the vast majority of visitors, Banff is merely a great place to shop, ski or party, with pretty scenery and the occasional deer that wanders along the streets. Most visitors are only vaguely aware that they are in a national park.

Ecological problems are many: The town itself, in addition to the highway and railway that slice through the park, are barriers to wildlife movement. For the past fifty years Parks Canada has had an active fire suppression policy, which has upset natural plant community succession. Due to habitat destruction, declining natural food supplies and highway mortality, large carnivores (bears and wolves) have been almost eradicated from the Bow Valley (the large river valley where Banff is located); meanwhile, deer and elk populations increased unchecked. The whole ecosystem was out of balance and in danger of collapsing -- yet tourism operators continue to market Banff as "pristine," an "ecological paradise," a "wilderness."

THE HERITAGE TOURISM STRATEGY

The founders of the HTS first struggled with how to define "heritage" (in the context of Banff National Park) and came up with these four principles:

1. heritage incorporates magnificent natural landscapes
2. heritage incorporates wildlife and healthy, intact ecosystems
3. heritage incorporates a historical element that has helped to shape Canada's national identity
4. heritage incorporates a strong connection to PLACE; that is, people come to this place by choice, they are somehow transformed by it, and they choose to identify themselves with it even if they don't live here.

1. make sure visitors are aware they are in a national park
2. encourage opportunities, products and services that are consistent with heritage values.
3. foster environmental stewardship
4. strengthen employee knowledge of heritage values through training and accreditation. For example, train front-line hotel and restaurant staff in the natural and human history of the park -- make them ambassadors, even on a cursory level, for what's special about the park.

The other main thrust of the HTS lies in convincing travel service providers within the park that, in the long term, it's in their own best interests to accept that travel must have limits. Service providers will be successful by re-thinking their services, by acting in socially and environmentally responsible ways and by promoting their actions to an increasingly aware and demanding public. People will not come to Banff to see a landscape that is compromised and damaged; protecting the environment is the key to the continued success of tourism in Banff and throughout the Canadian Rockies.

The HTS maintains that in the face of current human population increases and worldwide ecological degradation, intact and healthy ecosystems are becoming the world's most sought-after tourism destinations. If we believe that certain special places hold emotional, aesthetic and spiritual magic now, just think of the future. These places will be even more revered -- in ways we cannot currently imagine.

RESULTS SO FAR

To date, several tourism operators have embraced the fundamentals of the HTS and are making strides in all four areas -- helping visitors to understand that they are in a national park, providing goods and services consistent with park values, environmental stewardship, and staff training. Exactly how these objectives are carried out depends on the individual businesses -- hotels may take a different approach than motorcoach tour companies.

At the same time as the HTS is beginning to take hold within the tourism industry sector, Parks Canada is redefining its own role and taking a tougher, more pro-active management stance in the park. Initiatives include closing several facilities surrounding Banff town site that were barriers to wildlife movement; setting controlled fires to bring the essential role of forest fire back into the park's ecology; using various tactics to scare deer and elk out of the town (where the herd resided to escape predation) which has started to restore the natural predator-prey relationships in the park; and setting limits on how many people can visit certain "beauty spots" such as Moraine Lake.

Through the HTS we are beginning to find ways to live sustainably, in concert with wildlife and intact, functioning ecosystems. More importantly, we are re-connecting with Banff the PLACE, we are learning to celebrate and hold sacred these healthy, intact ecosystems.

The Heritage Tourism Strategy is not a panacea for Banff. The Strategy does not currently have broad acceptance. There are many obstacles and may dissenting points of view. Compromises and sacrifices are implicit in the success of the Heritage Tourism Strategy. However, those involved with the Strategy are making headway and the ecology of Banff National Park IS IMPROVING -- in part due to the efforts of dedicated people who believe passionately that Banff is a special place, worth saving AND sharing with visitors from all over the world. There needs to be much more dialogue among the various factions and interests, and this dialogue is ongoing.

Independent journalist Holly Quan focuses her work on western Canada, especially Calgary, Banff and the Canadian Rockies. This essay expands upon the author's essays written for the Media, Environment and Tourism Conference. Contact the author via email

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