Town of Banff

Banff Economic Impact Study Released

July 6, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Banff, AB – Today, the Town of Banff released an Economic Impact Study that shows that Banff contributes approximately $500 million to federal, provincial and municipal governments annually. These monies are the result of direct and indirect government revenues resulting from tourism in the Town of Banff.

“Like most municipalities, we rely too heavily on property taxes to support our budget.  As a Council we recognize we need to seek out alternative sources of revenue to continue to thrive,” says Banff Mayor John Stutz.  “As part of the process to identify future sources of revenue, we needed to better understand Banff’s economic impact across the board.”

This study, commissioned by the Town of Banff in late 2005, involved a comprehensive review of tourism data provided by Parks Canada, Banff Lake Louise Tourism and local tourism operators; tourism spending in Banff for the year ending December 31, 2003; tourism spending in Alberta (outside of Banff) by visitors to Banff; and tourism spending estimates generated through Alberta Economic Development’s Demand Economic Impact Model.  The results show that Banff has a significant impact on all levels of government, contributing $334 million at the federal level and $148 million at the provincial level.

It is estimated that visitors to Banff spent over $1.24 billion on travel in the Alberta and thus supported 28,068 full-time equivalent jobs in 2003.

“Now that we have this baseline information, we can craft a plan around alternative revenue.  This study was just the first step,” says Stutz.

Town Manager Robert Earl and Mayor Stutz just returned from sharing this information with the Honourable Federal Minister of the Environment Rona Ambrose and the Honourable Minister of Municipal Affairs Rob Renner. 

“We wanted to be sure the provincial and federal government have a good grasp of the economic impact Banff has on their revenue,” adds Earl.

As part of their strategic planning process, Town of Banff Council identified Alternative Revenue as a strategic priority for 2005 and 2006. One tactic – budgeted at $35,000 -- to begin work on this strategy included the identification of Banff’s economic impact.  The Banff Economic Impact Study was produced by HLT Advisory Inc.

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For Information:
Michelle Gurney      
Communications Manager, Town of Banff  
403.762.1207