Free admission to Canada’s national parks and historic sites doesn’t appear to have had an impact on the number of visitors to Mount Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks.
Over the summer months, there were fewer guests in the park than in 2016.
In June, 104,298 visitors were recorded in both Mount Revelstoke and Glacier Nationals Parks, while in June 2016, 105,507 visitors were recorded.
The gap is at its largest in July, when 164,749 visited the parks this year, while 172,037 did in 2016.
Shelley Bird, public relations and communications officer for Mount Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks, believes that the summer’s forest fires had an impact on the number of visitors to the park.
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She said that the trend in the past few years have been a steady increase in the number of visitors to the park.
August numbers were not available.
In September, the parks saw their only jump in visitors from last year, with a 4.8 per cent increase to 113,338 from 108,127.
The parks opened a number of new attractions this year, including the Beaver Lodge Kids Bike Park in lower Mount Revelstoke, a plaque commemorating the history of ski jumping at Mount Revelstoke and Nels’ Kickers.
“As an immensely popular spectator sport in the early 20th century, ski jumping at Mount Revelstoke became an internationally recognized event where world class athletes came to compete,” said Catherine McKenna, minister responsible for Parks Canada, about the plaque. “This designation reflects the rich heritage of our nation and provides an opportunity for Canadians to learn more about our diverse history, especially during the 150th anniversary of our beautiful country.”
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The parks have also started infrastructure projects, including improving roads and avalanche mitigation.
“It was a great year,” said Bird.
Free admission to Parks Canada sites continues until Dec. 31. The fee-based admission resumes in 2018, but youth 17 and under will be able to enter for free.