Banff National Park Tourism Statistics

Banff is far ahead of every other national park in Canada. Its 4.56 million visitors in 2025/26 were nearly double Jasper's 2.39 million, and the two Alberta parks together drew about 44% of all national park visits that year.¹

• The Rockies dominate. Banff, Jasper, Yoho and Kootenay sit side by side in the Rocky Mountains and drew about 8.3 million visits between them, more than half of the national total of about 15.7 million.¹
• Jasper bounced back. Its visitors more than doubled from 1.14 million in 2024/25⁹, the year the July 2024 wildfire forced an evacuation and destroyed 358 homes and businesses in the town of Jasper.¹⁰
• Pacific Rim leads outside the Rockies. The park on Vancouver Island's west coast drew 1.21 million visits, the only park outside the Rockies above 1 million.¹
• Visits rose almost everywhere. Every park in the top 10 except Mount Revelstoke and Glacier grew on 2024/25, and total national park visits rose about 16%.⁹

• Moraine Lake: A glacier-fed lake in the Valley of the Ten Peaks. Its blue color comes from sunlight scattering off fine glacial rock flour in the water.
• Lake Louise: Another glacier-fed lake and one of the busiest spots in the park.
• Banff Gondola: An 8-minute ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain¹², where there are viewing decks, hiking trails, interactive exhibits and restaurants.
• Banff Upper Hot Springs: A hot pool kept between 37°C and 40°C (98°F to 104°F).¹³
• Lake Minnewanka: The park’s largest lake¹⁴, popular for hiking and fishing, and the only lake in Banff where private motorboats are allowed.¹⁵

Every frontcountry campground in Banff was fully booked over the peak summer of 2025, and they logged 292,000 site nights across the year¹⁷, while another 21,400 people camped in the backcountry.¹⁸

Parks Canada counted around 480,000 camper nights in Banff's frontcountry campgrounds in 2022 and more than 500,000 in 2023, with a similar number in 2024.¹⁹ Camper nights count every person each night, while site nights count each booked campsite, so the two measures can't be compared directly.

Tunnel Mountain is Banff's biggest camping area by far. Its three campgrounds, Village I (618 sites), the Trailer Court (322) and Village II (209), hold 1,149 sites, almost half of all campsites in the park, and sit 2.5 to 4.5 km from the town of Banff.²⁰

• Tunnel Mountain Village I is the largest single campground, with 618 unserviced sites.²⁰
• Two Jack Main is second, with 380 sites near Lake Minnewanka, 10 km from the town of Banff.²⁰
• Lake Louise has 395 sites, split between a hard-sided campground with electricity (189) and a soft-sided campground for tents and tent trailers (206).²⁰
• The smallest campgrounds are along the Bow Valley Parkway and the Icefields Parkway, such as Mosquito Creek (38 sites) and Castle Mountain (42).²⁰

In 2026 a campsite costs CA$22 to CA$47.25 a night.¹¹ Primitive sites on the Icefields Parkway are the cheapest, and full hookups at Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court cost the most. An oTENTik costs CA$147.50 a night and an equipped campsite at Two Jack Main CA$86.50. Booking online adds a CA$11.50 reservation fee, and a fire permit costs CA$12 a day around Banff or CA$17 at Lake Louise and on the Icefields Parkway.