Steve and Jan Fleischmann, along with their daughter Ellie, were looking forward to their trip to Banff.
They live in Chicago but come to the Alberta Rockies when they can.
“We’ve been here before and we love it,” says Steve, “We were supposed to come last year – we didn’t because of COVID, so we did this year.”
The Fleischmanns say they counted on the good weather and the beautiful summer.
What they didn’t expect were the crowds.
“Banff is crazy,” Steve said. “We just got back from Lake Lewis, which was crazy. There are a lot of people in our boat trying to get back to their holiday.’
It didn’t take long for traffic to slow west of Calgary on Friday as people headed to Banff National Park, causing traffic to back up outside the park gates.
While the long lineups may have surprised tourists, park officials expected them.
“We definitely saw a lot of people come out to enjoy Banff National Park and we expected another busy long weekend,” says Daniela Rubeling of Parks Canada, “August is usually our busiest long weekend, so we expect nothing less this one weekend.”
This means that people who haven’t planned their trip in advance may be out of luck when it comes to finding a place to stay, a place to sleep, maybe even a place to eat.
“We encourage everyone to make sure they make reservations, whether it’s camping reservations, restaurant reservations or other accommodations,” Rubeling said.
Jan Fleischmann said the trip to the countryside was not pleasant, but once they arrived the vacation really began.
“It’s just beautiful,” she said, “We’re so lucky to get here – the weather and the people are so nice, it’s just been great.”
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