Forecast optimistic for summer tourism season
Smith Lake was looking its very best on a recent sunny and warm day. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
Tourism leaders gave an optimistic forecast for the upcoming summer season last week during the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce's annual spring luncheon.
Whitefish Mountain Resort CEO Dan Graves said the resort is planning for new and re-opened summer activities this year. The resort expects to see about 114,000 visits this summer, which is up from last summer's visitor count of 112,000.
“It will be a busy summer,” he told the group at Grouse Mountain Lodge.
During the summer season, the resort is often a secondary spot to town for those booking lodging, Graves noted, but this year's reservations are looking strong.
“We anticipate our lodging reservations to be the best we've had in six years,” he said. Scenic lift rides to the summit of Big Mountain should see an increase now that the Summit House is fully open after two years of renovation.
“The restaurant is done and we expect a good year because of the Summit House,” he said.
New this year, the resort plans to add the Strider Park near the Base Lodge area. This bicycle course is designed for children ages 2-6.
The resort will continue its alpine slide and zip line tours, Graves noted, but changes may come to those in coming years at the resort looks to expand on the popular activities.
Whitefish Mountain Resort opens for the season on June 17.
Glacier National Park Superintendent Jeff Mow, and Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Dylan Boyle also spoke.
Boyle said the U.S. Travel Association is predicting domestic travel to grow slightly in the next six months. Though the growth is expected to be slower than the last four years it's still expecting a 2 percent increase in travel, he noted.
“We like to see steady increases,” he said. “That's good for a sustainable economy.”
The University of Montana Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research is also predicting a 2 percent increase in visitation expenditures, according to Boyle.
Locally, he said, advance bookings for the summer are close to last year.
“Nationally, statewide and locally it seems to be following that same trend,” he said.
He pointed out that the Canadian dollar was at 73 cents per U.S. dollar last week, noting that when that is above 80 cents on the dollar is when there is the potential for an increase in visitation.
“Visitors are still coming from Canada,” he said. “Those coming are just not spending as much as they have in the past.”
During his talk, Mow said Glacier Park continues to work on how to accommodate an increasing number of visitors.
Glacier last summer had record crowds as the Park Service celebrated its centennial year. Just under 3 million people visited Glacier.
Overcrowding was an issue at Bowman Lake, where cars were parking on the side of the narrow, dirt road. The Park is considering closing gates on the road and to Two Medicine, which is also a dead-end road, and implementing a “one car in, one car out” rule.
“We saw things last year that shouldn't happen,” Mow said. “There was literally too many people there at one time.”
Overcrowding also occurred on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, and studies have shown that parking is an issue at Logan Pass with 1 p.m. being a time when most cars aren't able to find a parking spot in the lot.
“We need to educate visitors on how to avoid peak times,” Mow said. “There is a lot of visitor impact in the Going-to-the-Sun corridor and we need to plan for a way to make visitation sustainable.”
Congestion isn't limited to roads. Mow said there was one incident where an injured hiker on the Highline trail had to be airlifted out because they couldn't be transported by stretcher as a result of the number of hikers on the trail.
In 2016, the Highline averaged 592 hikers per day and both the Hidden Lake and Avalanche trails each saw more than 1,000 hikers per day on average.
One of the ways to ease overcrowding is to educate visitors about amenities outside the Park, Mow noted.
“Glacier is just the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “Visitors come here with blinders on thinking Glacier is the only thing.”