FEDERAL ELECTION 2025: Tourism as a priority: what our federal candidates have to say

CANMORE – As the Bow Valley’s largest economic driver, tourism plays a key role in the day-to-day lives of residents.

While it can be polarizing as the region welcomes millions of visitors each year, the majority of businesses need the visitation to continue successfully.

During Canmore’s April 18 federal election forum, candidates were asked what they would do to make tourism a priority. As an industry that contributes $51 billion in GDP annually to Canada’s economy, it also surpassed $1 billion in visitor spending in the Canmore and Kananaskis region in 2024 for the first time.

William Stevenson, the Conservative candidate in the Yellowhead riding, said he believed tourism should have its own portfolio and minister to focus on the specific needs of the industry.

In Alberta, the Ministry of Tourism and Sport has focused on growing tourism throughout the province. The provincial government set ambitious goals to hit $25 billion in annual tourism spending by 2035.

Stevenson noted that a key area for its success was to have adequate housing for staff, which would allow for more workers to come to the region.

“We need to definitely be looking at the concerns of the experiences for the individuals in those areas,” he said, adding he felt there was a competing concern between the environmental and tourism side in Parks Canada, with the environment being a higher priority.

He added that a bigger focus should be placed on promoting Canada and its visitor experiences.

“We need to get back to promoting it as the best country in the world and inviting those people to get here.”

People’s Party of Canada candidate Vicky Bayford echoed Stevenson’s comments on having infrastructure catch up and being able to house the necessary employees in the communities they work in.

She said tax breaks would be key in helping all businesses compete, especially with tourism being economically important.

For the first time, Tourism Canmore Kananaskis (TCK) reported more than $1 billion in tourism visitor spending last year. Both TCK and Banff and Lake Louise Tourism are looking to attract more visitor spending to the region, particularly in off-season times, with a focus on international visitors who spend far more than Canadians.

The two organizations have also been prioritizing a balance between people, businesses and the environment. TCK released its 2025-27 regenerative tourism action plan that outlines goals and objectives in promoting respectful tourism.

Both Banff National Park and Kananaskis Country each have more than four million visitors a year, while Jasper National Park has more than two million each year.

In campaigning, NDP candidate Avni Soma discussed the tourism industry’s growth and the different needs in areas of the riding. She gave the example of a person trying to start an ATV business in Hinton and a Banff business wanting more discussions on the cost of permitting to operate in a national park.

“Tourism is very, very important. I feel that the role of an MP and the federal government is to bring all these voices to the table. … To have them all at the same table discussing what needs to happen to allow them to continue to thrive, including looking at temporary workers foreign program.”

She said the federal government should also work to reduce inter-provincial trade barriers, which could help increase tourism and support small businesses.

Michael Fark, the Liberal Party candidate for Yellowhead, said a “critical focus on infrastructure” will ultimately help the tourism sector be successful.

“Both provincial and federal parks have been chronically underfunded in terms of their needs for infrastructure maintenance, let alone developing new infrastructure, so that does need to be a priority.”

When attending the Tourism Industry Association of Alberta conference earlier in April, Fark said he heard from industry members that employee retention was key.

He said it was the responsibility of government to engage the public and organizations and use evidence-based decision-making to find common solutions.

Counter to Stevenson, Fark said he felt Parks Canada had moved too far into prioritizing tourism as opposed to the environment.

“I understand the internal systems of government and how they work. I’ve engaged extensively in government advocacy and understand what you have to do is to start with is engage with industry and across industry to understand their concerns. … The industry itself is recognizing a balance between environment and business and the most critical part of infrastructure for tourism is a healthy environment because that is what brings people to the mountains.”

The federal election is April 28.