How to Lead Tourism for Good: Leslie Bruce, CEO of Banff & Lake Louise Tourism

Speaker A: 00:00:27

One word love. Banff is such an important and special place in this world.

Speaker B: 00:00:33

Welcome to into the Hearts of Canada, the podcast where we uncover the stories of extraordinary people transforming Canadian tourism. I'm your host, Matt Leadham, checking in today from Byron Bay on Bundjalung Country, Australia's most easterly point.

Today, I'm thrilled to welcome Leslie Bruce. Leslie's the president and CEO of Banff and Lake Louise Tourism in Alberta, Canada.

Banff national park is one of the world's most iconic mountain destinations, a place where natural beauty, indigenous heritage and conservation history converge.

With over 6,600 square kilometers of glaciers, forests, rivers, and rugged peaks, it offers easy access to the unspoiled wilderness of the Canadian Rockies. Home to iconic wonders like Lake Louise, it's also a thriving habitat for incredible wildlife, from grizzlies and elk to bald eagles and deer.

goals of Destination Canada's: 2030

Lesley shares not only truly local insights, but also practical ways you can bring the magic of Banff and Lake Louise to life for your clients. I really hope you enjoy Leslie and I's conversation.

Speaker C: 00:01:54

Well, hello, Lesley, and welcome to into the Hearts of Canada. I always like to start this podcast by asking you, where are you actually, where are you today? Where does this podcast find you?

Speaker A: 00:02:03

I am talking to you from the beautiful Banff national park in the heart of the Canadian Rockies.

And I'd like to acknowledge also that I'm in the ancestral territories of the Yahi Nakota bands of Chiniki, Bearspaw and Good Stoney, the Blackfoot Confederacy of Siksika Kainai and Pikinai, and the Dene Tsitsina Nation in Metis Region 3. And I make this acknowledgement to recognize all the work that we are all trying to do to make progress in truth and reconciliation across Canada.

Speaker C: 00:02:31

Beautiful, beautiful way to start this conversation. And what's going on in Banff right now.

Speaker A: 00:02:35

It is going great.

And I have to say, to give myself some fresh air, before we started our conversation, I went for a walk on Bear street and Banff Avenue, and we're in the midst of Building 3, three very large snow sculptures. Right now. We're just getting ready to kick off our annual Festival of Snow.

Speaker C: 00:02:52

Can you give us a bit of a sense of what it's like to live and work in Banff? I mean, how does this Destination inspire you on a daily basis?

Speaker A: 00:02:59

Well, truthfully, I pinch myself. I've been here now 10 years and I moved here from Toronto, which is the largest city in Canada, to this iconic and breathtaking place.

And it's truly like moving to everybody's picture postcard of what you imagine the best of Canada to be. Banff is a small town right in the Rockies and you're living and working amongst the wildlife, mountains, glacial fed lakes.

It's like being in this sort of immersive experience. And it's really the part that I still can't get over is it's not uncommon to have to slow down for elk or deer on your commute to work.

And there's no doubt that outdoor pursuits and adventures are a core to everybody's life. We have a, we have a rule in our office, the 20 centimeter rule. And if it snows 20 centimeters or more overnight, we don't come to work.

We all meet at the ski hill and we just do our best to be back at the desk by one in the afternoon. But you have to like, you live here for this. And so, yeah, it's pretty awesome.

And it, and it truly does inspire me to bring my best and do my best at work.

And honestly, I feel an immense sense of responsibility to support this place and the people that live here and those that come to visit because it is such a special place and we want to make sure it stays like that.

Speaker C: 00:04:15

It sounds like a very different commute to work, that's for sure. Absolutely. Certainly a very different way of hybrid working as well, I might add.

Speaker A: 00:04:23

The WI fi is pretty good at both the ski hill, the big ski hills, Lake Louise and sunshine. And honestly, Norquay is a five minute drive from my office, so it works out well.

Speaker C: 00:04:32

Oh, sounds absolutely heavenly.

So let's talk about Banff and Lake Louise, I guess, as a destination, what's the big draw card and what makes the destination stand out, I think, particularly for those really transformative experiences.

Speaker A: 00:04:43

Yeah, thanks. It's interesting. Guests have used words like awestruck, humbled wonder to describe their experiences in Banff National Park.

And they're really describing not just a feeling, but a connection to nature. And they even talk about their connection to their family and their travel companions and even themselves.

And I think the scale of the beauty in this place has a truly transformative impact. And it can be really hard to describe.

I would say both communities, Banff and Lake Louise and the park at large offer everyone a chance, of course, for the great outdoors. And that's quite clear as a main motivator, but it's also really interesting because it's very well managed and protected.

And I think people feel great about the choice to come to a place that is so well cared for. We're in a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which I think is another really clear indicator that protecting this place is serious business.

I think it really helps ensure that what we have to offer, what Mother Nature has created for us, is something that is to be shared. And that's, I think, special about our place as well. We're a model for sustainability, we're a model for sustainable tourism.

And we were purpose built to welcome guests and that means we have a defined footprint because we're in a national park and we have to really innovate and adapt. And there's a small town charm that we can really guarantee will stay forever because we cannot build a bigger town.

It's a tough one to put into one or two words, but I think our guests do it best when they tell us that they're humbled and inspired and awestruck by their experience here.

Speaker C: 00:06:26

There's a lot there. Absolutely. And it just seems to me, of course, that bringing this all together is the community.

That's not an easy feat for a community to be so empowered and want to make sure that welcome is such a beautiful and consistent one.

Speaker A: 00:06:39

Yeah, thanks for acknowledging that. The dramatic beauty in landscapes are really obvious to people. You see that the moment you drive into town. But there's something else here.

And as I said, this place is built to welcome people, but it's actually the people that make the big difference. Our unique sense of love for place and desire to share it with the world. We have people move from around the world to live and work here.

And so, yeah, it really is a cool part of it. The. The people really make this place special.

Speaker C: 00:07:12

Well, we. We of course, have such a beautiful kinship, I think.

Australians and Canadians, we share so many values and, and interests and, you know, similar sense of humour as well, I think, as well. Is that a big driver, do you think, for Australians it's that warmth and openness that Canadians have that really.

Speaker A: 00:07:27

Yeah, I think that's a part of it. I think there's a shared sense of adventure that also exists or that. That we. That we connect on.

Because I found that over the years we say that the promise at the core of our brand are moments of awe.

And the cool part about Banff is that can happen sitting on a patio with an incredible view of the alpenglow or on the Via Ferrata, up in the alpine, hiking or sitting on the shores of a lake. And so I think that sense of adventure that connects us may be part of it.

Speaker C: 00:08:02

rship and vision for tourism.: 2030

You've led Banff, Lake Louise tourism through incredible change in recent years. What was it that kick started this new direction for your destination?

Speaker A: 00:08:18

One word. Love. It was love. Banff is such an important and special place in this world.

And I have the privilege to work with passionate people that love this place and they want to share it with the world. I also get to meet people from around the world who tell me their lives have been changed by their visit here.

So I'm blown away by people's love for this place and truly compelled to do my part to ensure that it's here for eternity.

And what's really clear, overwhelmingly clear for me, is that visitors and locals feel that strong sense of stewardship, responsibility, and want to protect the place. And I truly believe it comes from a genuine love of place, of people.

Speaker C: 00:09:01

Well, that is something that is not easy to achieve.

Speaker A: 00:09:03

Yeah.

Speaker C: 00:09:04

And I can't imagine it has been either. That's. We'll probably go into that a little bit later. But, you know, that's a really big. That's a big word.

Speaker A: 00:09:11

I know.

And it's funny, as I contemplate this, you know, maybe five or eight years ago, I may have described it by something else or maybe euphemisms, or felt a little bit less clear.

But having gone through this process and really not only coming to terms with what is driving our desire to create a shared vision for our future and what landed with us deciding that we must lead tourism for good, it really comes down to people's shared values. And we as a community have determined our three core values.

And it was really love of nature that is the single most strongly connected value that is pervasive through our community. And then behind that, we have this sense of curiosity, a real culture around hospitality.

And so all of those things lead to this connectedness and this love that is very, very powerful.

And so when you think about, or when I describe probably later, how we built this, it has to be driven from a very strong feeling because it was a lot of work, it took a long time, and it was a.

Speaker C: 00:10:21

Very transformative effort, I can only begin to imagine. So let's talk a little bit about that. So it's a 10 year project lead Tourism for Good initiative. It's absolutely ambitious and forward thinking.

Can you walk us through it and give us a bit of background on the vision behind it?

Speaker A: 00:10:36

First, I'd like to just brag a little bit. We're really, really proud of the work that we did as a community.

with the Changemaker Award in: 2023

And, and I think that was the icing on the cake or the feather in the cap that really validated something that we believed was transformative and game changing in the industry. And to have that external validation was just awesome.

From the beginning, it really was clear that for us to build long term sustainability for tourism in the park, we would really need to build the vision together. We are a national park which is governed by a federal agency, Parks Canada, within a municipality here in the town of Banff.

And we also exist of course in a province. And so we have many, many layers of governance and government. And so it's a very complicated operating environment.

In fact, in: 2021

And that's I think really what compelled them to co create this with us and include this vision in their plans. And so we seek to lead tourism for good. And by that I do intend the double entendre of for the betterment and forever.

And in a summary, it identifies five strategic areas of focus that we will all share responsibility for improving and advancing. And those are our trails to tomorrow.

And so that's visitor experience, nature positive and climate action, community well being, indigenous connections and smart tourism.

I'd love to describe a little bit how we went through it, because I think that's where the secret sauce is in this extensive community wide consultation that we did with help from GroupNow, an innovation company based in Denmark.

Speaker C: 00:12:36

Please do. I'd love to know more.

Speaker A: 00:12:37

So most people know, but maybe not everybody knows that tourism is really our only industry in the national park. And so having a shared vision for its future is I think really key to our collective resilience.

So in the process, we engaged more than 2,000 people living and working in Banff National Park. And it started out with a very simple task. We thought, oh, we'll do 45 interviews.

In fact, we thought we'd do 20 we did 45 one on one interviews and those interviews helped us realize how much bigger this was and it helped us shape the approach. So then we invited people to join volunteer working groups.

We had almost 100 people from the community joined, six volunteer working groups that generated over 560 actionable ideas that could be taken out not only by our organization, but private sector, not for profit organizations, government agencies. And that was really powerful to see that kind of collective commitment to creating the plan.

And now the division has been launched, we actually still continue to meet with the lead Tourism for Good steering committee and we meet quarterly to make sure we're still advancing these commitments.

I have immense gratitude for the community and our partners of course, for joining us at the table because these people volunteered their time and again. It came from a place of passion and a place of love and commitment to building a more resilient and sustainable future for everyone.

Speaker C: 00:14:01

Just a huge, usually brave one to embark on really. Because I can imagine not all the feedback was positive in terms of what was coming back.

Speaker A: 00:14:10

I think it's funny because I learned about a process or a concept. Well, after we've done this, it's called radical collaboration and it really is what we did. We took collaboration to the next level.

I mean, nothing like inviting your biggest critics and your biggest regulators to the table to help you create a future of growth and opportunity for your industry. I know people thought that we were nuts. Took us over a year to get from start to finish.

I really don't think I had an appreciation for how deeply we would work together until we were in it. And honestly, I'm kind of glad I didn't know because I may not have been able to even fathom it and push as hard as I did at the beginning.

And so it all worked out as it should.

Speaker C: 00:15:21

Five years in, how's it all going?

Speaker A: 00:15:23

We say we continue to build momentum. What is exciting is we have really great uptake across our tourism sector.

So we have organizations like POW foundation that are funded through the Banff Lodging Company and Caribou Properties, one of our largest hospitality providers in town.

They've just made a $30 million donation to our YWCA to help form a partnership to create a tourism school that will A help upskill people in the destination and B, give a sustainable funding model to the YWCA so that they may focus on their core objectives and stop operating their social enterprise, which was sort of a side part of their business. We've got big things like that happening. We've also got smaller Things happening. A partnership with coffee shops in town.

The town of Banff and our organization Bamfin Lake Louise Tourism put our heads together to say how can we reduce single use items in the destination? And we created a share a coffee cup program. And so as a guest or local, you can rock up to any coffee shop, use an app to scan a coffee cup, no cost.

You get a reusable coffee cup, enjoy your beverage, and then return it to any one of our 20 participating coffee shops in town. It's cool because process started with us understanding how many coffee cups were ending up at our waste stream.

Our goal is to get rid of 10% of that waste in the first year and then build from there so you can see like there's little and big things happening.

And the reason I think the process was so important and impactful to this is that people came on the journey with this and then recognized that it's not Bamford Lake Louise Tourism or the town or park's sole responsibility to fulfill the vision. It's all of us.

And it will be the collective effort of this community that ensures that we are nature positive and that we've actually driven climate action forward and that we've been at the top of our game in visitor experience and that community wellbeing is at the center of our, the center of our approach. So yeah, yeah, there's a lot happening and you know what, there's a long way to go.

Speaker C: 00:17:24

Often it's about the 1%. It's that those tiny little incremental changes that add up to a vast change over time. Thinking about, you know, the travel trade here in Australia.

And of course we're sending visitors over and we want them to have an amazing time.

But sometimes maybe we're not quite sure as a, as a travel industry how we can best position and really get those stories over the line with our clients to really make them feel invested when they get here too. Do you have any thoughts on that and how we can help the trade to sort of spruit those stories in a really authentic way?

Speaker A: 00:17:55

There's the stories and also I think there are a few even key behaviors or considerations that the travel professionals can help us with immensely. There is this concept of staying longer and doing more. And we have learned in terms of the resources that it draws on when people stay longer.

We're able, hotels in particular are able to manage water, manage staffing, manage even electricity in a different way than the churn of, you know, one night, two night stays. That footprint of the guest is spread over longer. And so that's something that is really a part of our strategy is working to increase trip duration.

The other huge one for us is embracing the concept of responsible visitation. This includes things like being mindful of wildlife and respectful when taking photos and picnicking.

A huge part of our story is really around the integrated transit system that we continue to grow and encourage people to use.

And so having that year round system integrate with parks Canada's system is allowing us to move people more sustainably and then encourage behavior like walking and biking and taking shuttles. So we can now take a shuttle from the airport. You can take a shuttle up to the major sites like Lake Louise and Moraine Lake.

You can get to every ski hill on a shuttle without having to drive.

And our activity providers are also offering shuttles included in their packages in order to help A make that choice easy, but baby get from A to B in a more sustainable way. So those would be the two sort of behavioral shifts that we're really working on with our partners with stories.

I shared the story of the coffee cups. The coffee cup part is cool.

But what I think we're trying to say is that more and more our guests are asking us, they want to know that they're contributing to our community and not taking from our community.

And so I think one of the really important things for travel professionals to understand is that we're working collectively as a community community to find ways to help make a guest experience contributory and help them feel like they're part of it. People offering, for example, E bikes as a way to see the destination.

And I think it really is kind of cool because when guests are riding E bikes, you'll see that all the locals are too.

Our community has actually now town of Banff, as part of their contribution, has given incentives to our community members to buy E bikes so that they will stop using their cars and use their bikes in community.

Speaker C: 00:20:33

What I take from it is because you've got the community on board, you've got ambassadors 24 7, literally living the you know what you're trying to achieve and passing those stories on. I honestly think that's the only way we can really educate people.

Speaker A: 00:20:46

It's actually one of the reasons that we love to focus on Net Promoter score to help understand how we're doing that we do in destination surveys and people can fill them out after they leave. And cool part about that is our net promoter score now is higher for people who stay four days and longer.

And so it's all kind of marrying in because People get to settle in, they get to have a richer experience. And so their net promoter score is higher, which means they typically are going back and telling the stories of their experience.

And so we're doing our very best on that smart tourism trail to understand objectively and with data what the different decisions we are making, what impact are they having on our guests and vice versa. What. What is our guest and or our local telling us about their experience that can help us craft that future?

In partnership with Parks Canada, talking about.

Speaker C: 00:21:36

Community again and again.

We're five years into this and I saw one of your beautiful videos talking about the project in more detail and we'll put the link to this in the show notes. One of the quotes from yourself in there was, in order for us to stay the same, we absolutely have to change.

You said that was a real aha moment for you. And it sounds so obvious, but it says so much.

Speaker A: 00:21:58

Thank you for pulling that one out.

That truly was game changing as we were trying to find that sort of one thing we all shared in common or that one thing that we all wanted to work towards. What became clear is that we all share responsibility and love for nature.

And so what was really kind of cool is the group's aha moment when they realized the only way to protect and keep the same is for us to change behavior.

We have more people coming to the destination, we have to move differently or we have to think differently about energy consumption because climate change is real and we want to be part of the solution. And so I think for us, that was amazing.

And even the industry being able to express to, for example, our colleagues at Parks Canada how important it is to us as a travel and tourism industry to ensure that these mountains remain big and beautiful and that bears walk freely and the elk and deer are undisturbed. Like that really matters to all of us.

Well, the only way to really make sure that that continues to happen is for us to change behavior, for us to put in place new infrastructure, and for us to actually capitalize on technology in order to do that. Thank goodness we all clued into that. Sounds like such a simple and obvious statement. That took us a couple month, really, of back and forth debate.

And that was just. That was such a turning point. We realized we were all on the same page, all on the same team, and frankly, we've used that many, many times since.

Speaker C: 00:23:29

Well, it's a fantastic way to encapsulate it. I think as a resident yourself, what's been some of the most meaningful takeaways or experiences for you, it's interesting.

Speaker A: 00:23:38

We as a community have really, we've gone really close and we've come really far. I think the one thing I've always said about this community is our superpower is our ability to disagree and agree and come together when it counts.

And our superpower is our willingness and commitment to work together. And so I won't say, I won't pretend that it's all been easy and all been straightforward.

What is really exciting is that the community rallies around the opportunity to make decisions together. There's so much passion as again, so much love place in people and I think the actions speak very loudly.

Speaker C: 00:24:20

I'd like to just dial it up now and talk a little bit about practical insights for our travel professionals listening to the show. What advice have you got as a key sort of pitch, if you like, for them to tell that story?

Speaker A: 00:24:31

We have really found that the destination resonates with people that are looking for something of course, special and iconic and beautiful. Absolutely. Maybe a little brag worthy or sort of bucket listy and also to have that quintessential Canadian experience.

But we've also really noticed that people that share a desire to connect with nature are open to having sort of mind blowing experiences in the very simple things in life really seem to thrive or have incredible experiences here. We have almost every soft adventure opportunity that you could imagine. Hiking, skiing, biking, dog sledding, tubing and more.

As a place that inspires wonder and awe, this is an incredible place for families. The wildlife viewing is so natural and so immersive, you feel like you are a part of it.

And so whether you are taking a bike ride down the Bow Valley Parkway or riding a gondola, again, you feel really close to that. Spending time in a castle or spending time on the shores of Lake Louise, these are really again, special and iconic opportunities.

And I know it's challenging because one might say there's something here for everyone. There really is. But what is special is that there's a moment here for everyone. There is a moment of awe here for everyone.

Whether you're sitting on a patio and blown away by the sunset or the sunrise for that matter, or. Or you're charging down a hill on skis or a snowboard, there is that moment.

And that is something that when we have done our research with our visitors and crafted our new approach to our brand, we have been told time and again that not only are there moments of awe here, but they stay with you forever. You leave change just a little bit and those can be Hard things to describe and hard things to sell.

But really, if people are looking for something that is that special or transformative, you will not be disappointed by a visit to Bamp and Lake Louise.

Speaker C: 00:26:40

I love that, the idea of moments. And that's what travel is, isn't it? That is those beautiful, precious moments that we'll remember forever.

Just on that, I mean, are there sort of trends that you're seeing that are emerging around traveller behavior?

Speaker A: 00:26:52

We're seeing that sort of idea of immersion and looking for a connection and as well, personalization of these experiences.

So really leaning on the concierge or even art team, my team that has a role in helping as a resource for travel professionals as well as guests to help for advice and questions there.

For some people, they come here and they're seeing snow for the first time, and having a guide or having a tour that allows you to get into it, teaches you how to experience it safely. These are things that we're seeing greater.

Speaker C: 00:27:25

Demand for and guiding connection, telling the story, whether it's an indigenous experience or something up on the mountain, it's having someone, essentially a local, who can give you that perspective and give you a much deeper dive and a far richer experience than you would get from just going solo and kind of working it out.

Speaker A: 00:27:43

I couldn't agree more. And that idea of being able to really help personalize the experience, we're seeing more demand for that.

And one of the things that we're doing in destination to help with that once people arrive is we have a program locally called the Ambassador Program. This is something that every frontline team member of every organization in our destination are offered when they arrive in town.

And in: 2024

We educate people on the highlights of the destination, any new product or new experiences that have come out, and then we give them an opportunity to go and experience them.

Speaker C: 00:28:20

Well, that's brilliant. Here in Australia, how can the travel trade play our part? How can we align with what you're doing?

Speaker A: 00:28:26

We want to be really easy to work with first. We're Canadian, that kind of comes with part of the territory. But we may not understand your guest as well as you do.

And so we really have created tools and are here and are available to help in any way we can. We really want to help. We live, work and welcome the world to one of the most incredible places.

And with that comes an immense responsibility, not only to conduct business in a way that protects nature and our community, but really to share what we've learned with our guests. And I truly believe that travel can be an immense force for good. Research has shown that people are more open to ideas when they travel.

And so by connecting people with Banff and Lake Louise, we really hope to inspire them to take something home with them in their minds, in their hearts. What have they learned and maybe take that back to their daily lives.

So for us, it really is going to be about continuing to build momentum so that every experience of every guest that comes to our place offer something, a really positive experience or something that they feel inspired to maybe take home as an idea or even feel good about having done something to help our community. I think it really is that exciting part where we hope to start seeing some of the results of that hard work that we put in.

As a community that is dedicated to tourism, we're committed to welcoming your guests in a way that not only benefits our community, but really changes the lives of your guests through moments of awe. And we really hope that that will stay with people forever.

Speaker C: 00:30:02

Amazing. Thank you so much, Leslie, and thank you so much for our conversation today. It's been a joy to speak to you.

Thank you again for your outstanding work that you're doing to progress tourism in the right way. Thank you again.

Speaker A: 00:30:13

Thank you, Matt.

Speaker C: 00:30:16

Don't forget to check the show notes for useful links and resources and for more information on today's episode.

Into the Hearts of Canada is a Carry On Podcast original series series hosted by me, Matt Leadham, executive producer of Carry On Podcasts, is myself, Matt Ledham.

Speaker B: 00:30:32

And all podcast production is by Cassie Walker.

Speaker C: 00:30:36

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