Banff’s Candidates Face a Familiar Question: How Full Is Too Full?

Tourism built Banff. It fuels its economy, shapes its identity, and sustains the local jobs that keep the mountain town running. Yet it also brings the pressure of crowds, traffic, and rising costs that strain the very community that welcomes the world.

At the Banff and Lake Louise Hospitality Association’s all-candidates forum on Oct. 8, that tension dominated the discussion. Candidates spoke about tourism as both the town’s lifeblood and its heaviest burden, debating how much growth Banff can absorb without losing what makes it livable.

Just days later, Ottawa reignited the conversation.

The federal government announced on Oct. 10 that the Canada Strong Pass, which grants free entry to national parks and historic sites, will return for the 2025 Christmas season and 2026 summer. The program, first introduced last year, drew record crowds to Banff National Park and helped push visitation to more than four million people for a third consecutive year. The pass, while popular nationwide, could mean yet another record-breaking summer for a town already operating near capacity.

“When it’s full, it’s full”

Among those urging restraint is longtime Banff resident and conservationist Harvey Locke, who told CBC News that the town has “surpassed full on many days.”

“Since the national parks are for the people of Canada, we need to make sure the number of visitors is within the comfortable tolerance for the people who created these parks,” he said. “When it’s full, it’s full.”

While Parks Canada controls visitation levels inside the park, the practical impacts such as traffic congestion, housing shortages, and cost-of-living pressures fall largely on the town’s 8,000 permanent residents. Those issues were front and center at Banff’s all-candidates forum on Oct. 8, where candidates repeatedly tied the health of the visitor economy to the livability of the community.

Tourism as lifeblood and liability

Incumbent mayor Corrie DiManno, who is returning to office by acclamation, framed tourism as Banff’s defining feature but also its central challenge.

“Tourism and community well-being really go hand in hand,” she said, adding that a thriving community creates “a richer visitor experience.” DiManno pointed to Banff’s Lead Tourism for Good strategy, developed with input from more than 2,000 residents, as the town’s roadmap for managing growth.

The plan, she said, aligns “seamlessly” with the Banff Community Plan and focuses on measuring success, encouraging year-round visitation, and improving communication between residents, tourism operators, and Parks Canada.

Financially, Banff’s reliance on visitors is nearly absolute. Roughly 80 percent of the town’s municipal revenue comes from the commercial sector and visitor economy. “We’ve been really good at making our case,” DiManno said, citing federal and provincial funding that helped support affordable housing and infrastructure. Yet she acknowledged that the same model that keeps residential taxes low leaves the town “uniquely exposed to fluctuations in the tourism economy.”

To offset that dependence, she highlighted the visitor-pay-parking system, which generates about 7.5 million dollars annually. Those funds go toward transit, e-bike rebates, and free local bus access.

Still, DiManno admitted that growth comes with friction. “There’s a perception of over-tourism,” she said at the forum, explaining that the town will launch a Human Use Management Framework to define what that means. “For some people it’s a people issue, for others a vehicle issue,” she said. “We need to understand it before we can fix it.”

“Tourism is life”

Councillor candidate Brian Standish agreed that tourism underpins every aspect of Banff’s identity but warned that prosperity must be matched with restraint.

“In Banff, tourism is life,” he said. “Our prime purpose is to welcome visitors while preserving the environment.” Standish argued that environmental leadership should remain council’s “prime focus” if Banff is to serve as a model for other communities in national parks. He proposed holding bi-annual check-ins to evaluate progress on the Lead Tourism for Good plan.

Sitting councillor, Kaylee Ram, emphasized the practical side of regeneration. She pointed out that 98 percent of parking revenue comes from visitors and that reinvesting it locally turns tourism into a self-funding system. “That’s regenerative tourism in action,” she said, adding that Banff’s tourism committee already meets quarterly to assess results.

Other candidates called for caution. Hugh Pedigrew questioned whether Banff has already reached its limits. “We need data on how big we can get,” he said. “What’s our capacity?”
Ted Christensen credited Parks Canada for maintaining the commercial growth cap and town boundary, calling the federal agency “our best ally to preserve our privileged lifestyle.”

A shared problem

For some candidates, the distinction between residents and tourists is blurry. Michelle Backhouse told the audience that many local challenges, including affordable food, transportation, and housing, are “shared problems.” “A lot of the same issues a resident is facing, a visitor is facing as well,” she said, suggesting more collaboration between the two groups.

Chip Olver echoed that sentiment. “A good place to live is a good place to visit,” she said, endorsing the principle of regenerative tourism, where visitors leave Banff better than they found it.

Preparing for another record year

Banff’s road network, already near saturation, saw about 24,000 vehicles per day during last year’s summer peak. Every day in July and August reached the town’s vehicle threshold, with more than 6.7 million vehicle entries and exits recorded in 2024. This year is projected to surpass that mark, signaling another record-breaking season ahead.

Against that backdrop, Mayor Corrie DiManno struck a cautious but optimistic tone in comments to Bow Valley Insider following the renewal of the Canada Strong Pass. “We are pleased to learn that the Canada Strong Pass is coming back for the holiday season,” she said. “Making it more affordable to visit Canada’s first national park will benefit all Canadians. At the same time, this is a welcome incentive to encourage visitation to Banff out of peak summer season.”

She described winter as the ideal time for Canadians to explore Banff without the gridlock. “There is no traffic congestion in the winter months and we have so many activities and beautiful vistas to enjoy,” she said. “More people coming in the winter months helps level out our local economy, which helps us retain a workforce year-round.”

Still, DiManno acknowledged that the summer surge will require careful coordination. “We hope we can work with the Parks Canada Agency to see how implementing the free access can be structured to incentivize travel at times of the week or times of the day that are less busy in the park,” she said. “We also hope that the Canada Strong Pass doesn’t mean a cut to the budgets of Parks Canada, which provides vital services to visitors and works to maintain the ecological integrity of this amazing national park.”

That push for balance echoes the approach already being taken by Banff & Lake Louise Tourism (BLLT). The organization’s 2025 business plan calls for more investment in winter events and regional marketing to “balance year-round visitation.” The goal is to spread visitor demand across seasons and ease summer congestion.

The limits of paradise

If there was consensus at the Oct. 8 forum, it was that tourism defines Banff but cannot expand indefinitely. The debate was not about stopping visitors, but about finding the ceiling for a town that already feels full.

As Harvey Locke put it, “It’s not about how many people can be shoved in a place.” For the candidates vying for council seats, that question now extends beyond a summer crowd or a traffic jam. It is a test of what kind of community Banff wants to be, and whether the world’s first national park town can remain both a home and a destination.

The federal pass may open the gates again next year, but it will be Banff’s new council that decides how wide they stay open.