Tourism in Canada, and particularly tourism in British Columbia, needs to seriously rethink its dependence on summer. For decades, July and August have been the economic engine of tourism for many destinations, with hotels filling, campgrounds operating at capacity, restaurants becoming busy, attractions welcoming visitors and outdoor tourism businesses generating a significant portion of their annual revenue in a very short period. That model worked when summer was relatively predictable, but that predictability is becoming increasingly difficult to rely on. So what do we do?
Wildfires, wildfire smoke, flooding, extreme heat, road closures, evacuations, no funding and other emergency events are creating growing uncertainty for tourism businesses, destination marketing organizations, municipalities and communities across British Columbia and throughout Canada. This isn't about predicting the next disaster. It's about recognizing that tourism planning needs to account for a changing operating environment and that British Columbia and the rest of Canada needs a serious Low Season Tourism Strategy focused on increasing tourism during spring, fall and winter while reducing the economic risks associated with relying so heavily on peak summer tourism.
This should not simply be another tourism report or another marketing campaign. It should be a coordinated economic strategy that helps tourism businesses increase visitor spending, accommodation occupancy, length of stay and employment throughout the year. The years of summer bliss are coming to an end. How many more summers are going to burn before we act? Tourism resilience isn't just about recovering after an emergency. It's about building a tourism economy that is strong enough to withstand one. We need to build to grow not to recover.
British Columbia experienced one of the most destructive wildfire seasons in its history in 2023, when 2.84 million hectares burned across the province and 2,257 wildfires were recorded. In 2024, another 1.08 million hectares burned in British Columbia across 1,688 wildfires, demonstrating that the province's wildfire risk is not a one year anomaly.
But this is much bigger than British Columbia. Canada's 2023 wildfire season was the most destructive ever recorded, with more than 6,000 wildfires burning over 15 million hectares across the country. More than 230,000 Canadians were evacuated because of wildfire threats, while the area burned was more than six times Canada's long term annual average of approximately 2.5 million hectares.
In 2024, Canadian fire management agencies reported approximately 5.3 million hectares burned across Canada, an area roughly the size of Nova Scotia and almost twice the country's 25 year average of 2.9 million hectares. Canada recorded 5,844 wildfires that year, demonstrating that even when the number of fires is below the long term average, the amount of land affected can still be extraordinarily high.
These numbers aren't being presented to frighten visitors or discourage people from travelling in British Columbia or Canada. They're being presented because tourism leaders need to understand the environment in which tourism businesses are now operating. Wildfires can affect visitor confidence, transportation routes, outdoor attractions, accommodation bookings, events and the overall flow of visitors into communities. Visitors do not grasp the size of Canada and a fire here, in thier eyes, is over there too. Wildfire resilience is becoming tourism resilience, and the potential economic consequences of wildfire, flooding and other emergencies need to be considered when Canada's tourism strategies are developed.
For tourism businesses and destination marketing organizations, the message is becoming increasingly clear: we cannot build sustainable tourism economies around the assumption that every summer will be predictable. A stronger four season tourism strategy can help Canadian communities reduce their dependence on peak summer visitation while creating new economic opportunities in spring, fall and winter. Maybe we should start looking at our summer seasons with no disasters as a bonus and not as a foundation of our tourism season.
For many destinations, the traditional tourism model is straightforward. Summer arrives, visitors arrive, hotels fill, campgrounds fill, restaurants become busy, tour operators run full schedules, attractions welcome visitors and communities generate significant visitor spending. Then October arrives and tourism activity declines. That model becomes increasingly vulnerable when the peak season is interrupted by wildfire smoke, flooding, extreme weather or transportation disruptions.
A tourism business that earns a large percentage of its annual revenue during eight to twelve weeks has very little room for error. Lose a few days and the business may recover. Lose two weeks and it hurts. Lose a month during the peak tourism season and the consequences can become significant. For small towns and rural communities, the problem can be even greater because tourism businesses often have fewer financial resources, smaller marketing budgets and fewer alternative sources of visitor revenue.
When visitors stop coming, the economic impact spreads far beyond hotels and attractions. It affects restaurants, gas stations, retail stores, museums, guides, outfitters, event organizers, transportation providers, accommodation businesses and local suppliers. Not to mention the mental health of the local population as they watch as small businesses close and hotels are vacanat. Tourism is an economic ecosystem, and when visitor spending disappears, the consequences are felt throughout the community.
British Columbia doesn't stop being beautiful when summer ends. The mountains are still here, the lakes are still here, the forests are still here, the communities are still here and the experiences that make British Columbia attractive to visitors continue throughout the year. Restaurants are still open, museums are still operating, historic downtowns are still waiting to be explored, artists are still creating, food producers are still producing and Indigenous tourism experiences are still available.
The opportunity is to turn these assets into compelling reasons to travel during the seasons when tourism demand is traditionally lower. That means thinking differently about tourism marketing and destination development. Instead of asking only how we can attract more visitors in July and August, we need to ask how we can attract more visitors in October, November, February and March. We need to make the low season part of the main tourism strategy rather than treating it as an afterthought.
"When low season tourism becomes an afterthought, tourism resilience becomes an afterthought too." Greg Girard
A successful strategy could focus on fall road trips, culinary tourism, local food events, Indigenous cultural tourism, wildlife viewing, photography, arts and cultural festivals, music events, historic downtown experiences, wellness retreats, fishing, cycling, hiking, dark sky tourism, winter festivals, snowmobiling, skiing, snowshoeing, ice fishing, hot springs, Christmas markets and other seasonal experiences. What a list right!
The objective isn't to replace summer tourism. The objective is to balance tourism demand throughout the year so that businesses and communities have more opportunities to generate visitor revenue regardless of what happens during the peak summer season. It is also an opportunity to expand seasons on popular activities like mountain biking, fishing, off roading, and more.
We often talk about economic diversification when discussing communities that depend on a single industry, but tourism should be having the same conversation about seasonality. Makes sense right? A community that depends heavily on summer tourism has a form of economic concentration risk. If the summer season is disrupted, the economic consequences can be significant. There are numerous examples of this happening right now.
Developing spring, fall and winter tourism creates additional opportunities to generate revenue outside the traditional peak season. That doesn't eliminate the risk of wildfire or flooding, but it can reduce the financial impact when tourism businesses are no longer dependent on one short window of the year. Tourism resilience isn't simply about responding to emergencies. It's also about building businesses and communities that can withstand disruptions.
It is no secret my heart lies with small towns and rural regions. NNo disrespect to uran living, but it is just not my bag-of-tea. In my opinion, small towns and rural communities should be at the centre of Canada's low season tourism strategy because rural destinations have something many larger tourism markets struggle to provide: authenticity, space, community, local stories, historic downtowns, local food, culture, nature, adventure and personal connections.
Visitors aren't always looking for another crowded attraction. Sometimes they want to meet local people, discover a historic main street, eat at a local restaurant, hear a story, explore a road they've never travelled or experience a destination that feels genuine. That's where small town tourism can be incredibly powerful, and many of these experiences don't depend on July or August. We as small towns, need to tell our story more and speak louder.
Imagine October becoming one of British Columbia's strongest road trip months, November becoming a destination month for food, culture, shopping and small town experiences, and February becoming a major winter tourism month for rural communities. Imagine spring becoming a season for cycling, fishing, hiking, wildlife viewing and cultural tourism, while tourism businesses develop events specifically designed to fill accommodation rooms during traditionally slower periods.
Imagine communities working together rather than competing for the same visitors during the same eight weeks of summer. Imagine destination marketing organizations building campaigns around the entire calendar rather than concentrating the majority of their efforts around peak season. That is what a four season tourism strategy could accomplish, and it could make communities considerably more economically resilient. Just close your eyes and imagine what could be!
If governments and tourism organizations are serious about tourism resilience, funding programs need to recognize the importance of seasonal diversification. Marketing dollars should not simply follow historical visitor patterns because continually investing in the periods when tourism already performs well reinforces the same seasonal dependency. Tourism funding cannot and should not fund the same communities over and over again, at a time when the industry needs diversification and small towns a begging for funding to develop tourism.
Future tourism investment should encourage projects that grow spring, fall and winter visitation, support businesses and destinations that are developing new tourism products, reward measurable increases in overnight stays, visitor spending and length of stay, and recognize the economic importance of rural and small town tourism. The question shouldn't simply be how many people saw a tourism advertisement. The question should be what economic activity that investment created.
A modest 3% increase in visitation during four shoulder-season months (October, November, February and March) could potentially inject approximately $159 million into B.C.'s tourism economy and generate roughly $15 million in additional provincial and municipal tourism-related tax revenue. Everyone wins with a modest 3% increase in our low seasons. It is very doable with the right mindset and effort.
Destination marketing organizations are in a unique position to lead this conversation because they understand their destinations, their tourism businesses and their visitor markets. But the strategy needs to change from simply asking how to get more people here in July to asking how to create demand throughout the year. It is time for a blinders-off mentality.
How do we get more visitors here in October? How do we get more visitors here in November? How do we get more visitors here in February? How do we encourage visitors to stay another night? How do we connect visitors with local businesses? How do we turn an existing community asset into a tourism experience? These questions can lead to a much stronger tourism economy. These are questions we should be discussing at our round-tables.
The challenge extends across Canada. Wildfires affect communities across the country, flooding affects communities across the country and extreme weather affects communities across the country. Tourism destinations everywhere need to consider how they can become more resilient.
Canada also has a tremendous advantage. We have four seasons, mountains, lakes, forests, rivers, coastlines, prairies, cities, villages and thousands of small communities. We have Indigenous tourism experiences, cultural tourism, adventure tourism, food tourism and winter tourism. We have stories and experiences that can attract visitors in every season. We have everything required to promote Canada as a genuine four season tourism destination. We need to start acting like it.
For too long, seasonality has been treated as something tourism businesses simply have to accept. It doesn't have to be. Seasonality is a tourism challenge, but it is also a tourism opportunity. We can develop new products, create new events, package existing experiences differently, promote shoulder seasons, strengthen winter tourism, grow fall tourism, build spring tourism, encourage longer stays, support rural tourism and support small town tourism. If Tofino BC can turn a wet and miserable week of hard rain into a storm watching tourism attraction, then our country should be able to transform our low seasons to attractions and sell them accordingly.
We can build a more resilient Canadian tourism economy, but doing so requires tourism stakeholders to think beyond the traditional summer tourism model. Summer will remain incredibly important to Canadian tourism, but summer cannot be our only plan. The goal isn't to abandon summer tourism. The goal is to make Canadian tourism less dependent on it.
When wildfire smoke clears, when floodwaters recede and when roads reopen, tourism businesses still have bills to pay. Employees still need jobs. Hotels still need guests. Restaurants still need customers. Attractions still need visitors. Communities still need economic activity, and travellers are still looking for somewhere to go.
The question is whether we're prepared to give them compelling reasons to travel during all four seasons.
British Columbia has the tourism assets. Canada has the tourism assets. Our small towns have the stories. Our rural communities have the experiences. Our tourism businesses have the entrepreneurial spirit. What we need now is a strategy that connects them.
A stronger tourism economy isn't simply one that attracts more visitors. It's one that spreads visitor spending throughout the year, supports communities during periods of disruption and creates sustainable tourism opportunities in every season.
"We cannot keep treating low season tourism as an afterthought while asking tourism businesses to survive increasingly unpredictable summers. The time to build a four season tourism economy is not after the next crisis. It is now." Greg Girard
1. Why does British Columbia need a four season tourism strategy?
British Columbia's tourism economy is heavily dependent on summer visitation, making many communities vulnerable when wildfires, wildfire smoke, flooding, extreme weather or transportation disruptions affect the peak tourism season. A four season tourism strategy would help increase visitation and visitor spending during spring, fall and winter.
Wildfires can disrupt tourism by causing evacuations, road closures, poor air quality, cancelled accommodations, reduced visitor confidence and closures of outdoor attractions and tourism businesses. For communities that depend heavily on summer tourism, losing even a few weeks of peak season revenue can have significant economic consequences.
3. What is low season tourism?Low season tourism focuses on attracting visitors during periods when tourism demand is traditionally lower, particularly spring, fall and winter. Examples include fall road trips, culinary tourism, cultural events, wildlife viewing, winter festivals, snowmobiling, skiing, snowshoeing, wellness tourism and small town experiences.
4. Why is low season tourism important for small towns and rural communities?Small towns and rural communities often have fewer tourism businesses and financial resources, making them particularly vulnerable to disruptions during the summer tourism season. Growing tourism during the shoulder and winter seasons can diversify visitor revenue, support local businesses, create employment and make rural tourism economies more resilient.
5. What can tourism organizations do to reduce dependence on summer tourism?Destination marketing organizations, tourism businesses, municipalities and governments can work together to develop year round tourism products, create events during traditionally slower months, promote spring, fall and winter travel, encourage longer visitor stays and direct tourism funding toward measurable low season growth. The goal is not to replace summer tourism, but to create a more balanced and resilient four season tourism economy.
Published by EH Canada Marketing Group CMO Greg Girard
Greg Girard is a Canadian tourism marketer, travel writer, public speaker and small town tourism advocate, best known as co founder of EH Canada Travel. Together with his brother Colin Girard, he helped build the platform into a national resource connecting travellers with Canadian communities, attractions, adventures and authentic local experiences.
Greg's career combines tourism, marketing, research and communications. In 2002, he left the corporate world to join Colin in developing EH Canada Travel, where his work has included tourism marketing, content development, consulting and public speaking.
A defining part of his approach is boots on the ground research. Greg and Colin have travelled extensively across Canada, visiting communities, parks, trails, historic sites and tourism attractions. That experience helped shape EH Canada Travel's focus on local knowledge and authentic Canadian travel experiences.
Greg is particularly associated with small town and rural tourism, helping communities identify tourism assets, tell stronger stories and use digital marketing to reach travellers. He also provides tourism commentary and speaks about the challenges and opportunities facing rural tourism economies.
He is one of the voices behind the EH BC's of Rural Tourism Podcast, which focuses on small town and rural tourism issues in British Columbia.
At the heart of Greg's work is a simple belief: Canada's tourism story shouldn't be told only by the largest destinations. Small towns, rural communities and local businesses have stories worth discovering.
Today, Greg continues to promote Canadian travel, rural communities, adventure tourism and tourism innovation through EH Canada Travel and his tourism consulting and media work.
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Comments 6
Incredible article Greg Girard! Insightful & thoughtful while still inspiring. I hope your message is heard across the country heart)
#truestory
Anja Cahill Funny thing. After my post the Tourism Industry Association of BC posted a paper committing to start developing small town tourism initiatives. Maybe they are listening.
Very true story.
I was actually talking with a stranger about this the other week. He moved to a small town, and he said the biggest barrier for him was getting his friends to visit from an urban centre because there weren't as many options for things to do. And as someone terrible at planning, I find it harder to plan small-town outings because there isn't as much visibility for small-town businesses. Meaning if I google a restaurant in a small town, sometimes their website is not up to date, or they have very little information. So I think it's about making it easier for people to access experiences in small towns during off-seasons. Instagram is my favourite method for finding things to do. My saved post history is lengthy lol
Very good points. However, from our experiences working with small towns there are many reason for your concerns. One is that if they do not have funding so they cannot play at the same level as urban centres. Often Urban centres receive 100's of times more funding. Also staffing, skills and time are also barriers to marketing and keeping things updated. Small towns have the will and want to be current but without support from Government that is an uphill climb.