Canadian tourism operators are hosting international travel journalists in Jasper this week in the hopes of getting splashy coverage and attracting more visitors to the country’s destinations, including the Alberta mountain town that’s still recovering from last year’s wildfires.
Early data suggests international tourists are warming to Canadian landscapes and experiences during a period of geopolitical tensions. In Alberta alone, tourism revenues were up six per cent halfway through the year, compared to 2024, said Tannis Gaffney, chief marketing officer for Travel Alberta
“Travellers are looking for someplace that’s safe, that’s welcoming, that’s open, that has obviously spectacular landscapes,” said Tannis Gaffney, chief marketing officer for Travel Alberta. “I’m cautiously optimistic these numbers are going to continue to go through the roof.”
The role of tourism in Canada’s economy is on the rise, and so too is the number of visitors with a more than nine per cent increase in overnight air arrivals for travellers coming to the country from overseas in July.
That overseas bump comes during a period of constrained travel across the United States border. During the same month, U.S. residents took 1.8 million fewer trips into Canada by car or truck compared to the year before, a more than seven per cent dip. U.S. air travel into Canada edged up slightly, by 0.7 per cent.
In Jasper, the Canadian tourism group Destination Canada is hosting travel journalists from around the world this week for the GoMedia Canada Summit 2025 to encourage more visitors to come.
“The goal is that they’re going to write about Canada,” Gaffney said. “We’re going to get some front cover stories. We’re going to get some 10-page editorial.”
Following the destructive wildfire last summer, Jasper’s landscape has changed. But Nicolas Sirois, senior director for brand communications at Destination Canada, said the natural disaster has opened up a new tourism opportunity, giving visitors the chance to learn about the ecology of fire, showing not just the burned land, but what regrows afterwards.
The effects of the fire on the community are varied, according to Gaffney, but tourism remains a staple for its economy.
“Some locals have lost their business, but not their home. Some locals have lost their home but not their business,” said Gaffney, adding that the community has returned to welcoming visitors “with open arms.”
“The experiences have had to rejig a little bit. If a canyon was closed, they’ve moved a hike to a different canyon. If a bridge is closed, they’ve moved it over to a different area. The rafting experiences are different. Golf at the Jasper Park Lodge is different, but it is still absolutely spectacular,” said Gaffney. “There’s a kind of a rebirth and a resurgence here.”
Travel Alberta said the province welcomed more than 2.4 million international visitors in 2024, adding an estimated $11.3 billion to the province’s economy. For its part, Canada as a whole welcomed more than 30 million and brought in $50.8 billion to the country’s GDP.
“All systems (are a) go right now,” Gaffney said. “We are very excited, not only for the growth in those numbers, but what is really important to us is the businesses that are benefiting from that.”
Alberta’s sector also benefitted from the Canada Strong Pass, which allowed free or discounted admission into national parks across the country over the summer. Gaffney said Travel Alberta didn’t have the final numbers for the full effect of the program, which ended in early September, but said that it led to increased activity in Banff and Jasper.
The GoMedia Summit 2025 is happening in Jasper with Destination Canada hosting travel journalists from around the world to showcase Canada’s travel gems with the goal of attracting more visitors to the country and spurring the tourism industry. Supplied/Destination Canada
As strong as the numbers are for the province and country, tourism groups want to see it continue to rise as Canada competes in the contentious global tourism industry, which is why tourism groups from across the country are in Jasper for the event.
The GoMedia event happens once every two years, and Sirois said the “target audience are international travel leisure media from our nine international target markets.”
The targeted markets include Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Sirois said they’ve seen a rise in visitors from some of those major markets, especially South Korea. But the group isn’t just trying to bring in all types of tourists. They are focusing especially on attracting what they call the “highly engaged guest.”
“These are guests who are really interested in authentic experiences where they get to learn and immerse themselves in the cultures that they travel to. And so we’re targeting them because we know that we have an authentic story to tell,” said Sirois.
Gaffney said travel in Alberta is appealing for these types of travelers in part due to the province’s landscapes, but also for its Indigenous tourism opportunities.
“The Indigenous offerings that we have across Canada are very, very special and unique, and these international travellers are asking for it,” Gaffney said. “It’s usually one of the top two drivers of why international visitors want to come to Canada, besides the welcoming people and the beautiful natural landscapes.”
zdelaney@postmedia.com
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