“(Last year) was a great year for recovery,” according to Erin Crane, CEO of Tourism Lethbridge.
She said an increase in spring and summer activities in the Lethbridge area like the Tim Horton’s Brier set up the winter for success.
“Businesses and attractions started to see numbers that were similar to pre-pandemic,” said Crane
One such attraction, the Winter Light Festival, saw a big jump in visitation numbers according to Eric Granson, marketing manager with Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden.
“We had over 30,000 thousand people this year — 30,672 — which is a 32 per cent increase from the year before,” said Granson.
Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden set a 2022 goal of bringing in more out-of-town guests and far surpassed their expectations with Calgary tourists making up almost a third of all festival attendees.
Granson said new programming additions like the dome experience played a major role.
“That’s what we like to see is that everyone will take a look and see what we have to offer and really see that we exist as this top-10 destination in North America,” said Granson.
Historic early-season snowfall at Castle Mountain Resort helped boost numbers.
While less snowfall in the new year brought numbers down to a more typical level, Cole Fawcett, Castle Mountain sales and marketing manager, said if overall visitation numbers remain steady that’s great news for the resort.
“We’re optimistic that if this continues, we’ll be able to make some significant investments into our guest experience,” said Fawcett.
Crane said the winter success was a continuation of what was a phenomenal year for Lethbridge tourism.
“The economic impact that we tracked in 2022 was over 57 million. So that’s a huge jump and a huge increase into our community and just shows how important tourism is especially for those businesses that were hardest hit.”
Even with this success, Crane said there’s more opportunity for tourism growth in the years ahead.