2026 Provincial Pre-Budget Submission

Key Priorities & Recommendations

The Banff & Lake Louise Hospitality Association (BLLHA) represents more than 120 hotels, restaurants, attractions, and ski resorts employing over 5,000 people. With 4.3 million visitors to Banff National Park in 2024, which is over 11% of Alberta’s total visitors, our region significantly outperforms most destinations economically while dealing with the challenges that most communities don’t face.

The numbers tell a clear story. Tourism generated $14.4 billion in visitor spending in 2024, which translated to $13.6 billion in GDP and $2.8 billion in taxes. As Alberta’s fourth largest export, tourism brings in more money than cattle, wheat, and wood combined – $3.5 billion from international visitors alone.

Here’s what makes tourism different: Travel Alberta research shows that every extra billion dollars in international visitor spending creates $1.25 billion in GDP, $83 million in exports, and $15 million in foreign direct investment, which improves what we offer, which brings more visitors.

This submission outlines four priorities for the 2026-27 budget to help Alberta hit its $25 billion tourism target by 2035 while ensuring places like Banff and Lake Louise can handle the growth sustainably.

BLLHA is calling for focused investment in four key areas:

• Strengthening the tourism workforce
• Improving regional transit in high-visitation destinations
• Ensuring stable and competitive funding for Travel Alberta
• Coordinating efforts across government to manage growth in high-visitation rural communities.

Taken together, these actions will allow Alberta to grow tourism responsibly, fully capture its economic and tax potential, and stay on track to reach the provinces’ $25 billion tourism target by 2035.