Partners on the Path: Why Destination Brand and Values Matter to Banff and Lake Louise

Across this destination, we’re united by our shared values, and we want visitors to feel connected to what matters most to us. We are curious people connected to nature and committed to hospitality – that's just who we are in Banff and Lake Louise. In 2024, Banff & Lake Louise Tourism (BLLT) embarked on a journey to refine its destination values in collaboration with the community, industry, and visitors.

Leading this initiative is the BLLT Brand and Strategy team, headed by Heather Szpecht. We caught up with Heather to learn more about the how – and the why - behind this important process of shaping our destination’s brand and values.

Heather, why does destination brand matter?

Heather: Brand matters to any product, any place, any person. It’s the set of expectations, perceptions, memories, and relationships, when taken all together, that shape how a person feels about a person, product or entity. In the case of travel, these feelings influence how people decide where to travel, how they engage with content ahead of their trip and connect with a destination when they are here. Then, brand is how they talk about the place they visited after they’ve left.

Why is it important to have alignment on destination brand in Banff and Lake Louise?

Heather: In a travel destination, those interactions don’t just happen with a single entity – they happen across multiple people and businesses. That means guides, concierges, visitor information centres, restaurants, local residents and even fellow travellers. There are so many moments to influence a person’s perception of a place – it's really important to have alignment across the destination. In what we collectively see as important, what sets us apart, our shared approach to sharing this place with the world and protecting it for future generations. The brand of a destination also has an impact on the communities they promote and serve. In a place like Banff National Park, where the ratio of visitors to in-park residents was more than 400:1 at last count, the impact the destination brand can have on the local culture, land and quality of life is even greater.

It is essential to ground our brand in the community, and honour the essence, culture, values, priorities and uniqueness of the place.

Why was it time to refresh the brand?

Heather: We recently completed our vision for tourism in the destination in 2022, called “Lead Tourism for Good”. This initiative was a destination-wide effort to establish our long-range vision for a sustainable future of tourism for people and park. With this north star in place, it was important to review the core foundational elements of who we are – brand being one of them - to ensure they’re aligned towards our long-range aspiration to lead tourism for good and leave this place even better than it is now. With the changes we’re seeing in our environment and in the travel space post-pandemic, we needed to revisit our brand. Travel is evolving, and we want to make sure we stay ahead and shape that evolution. The destination brand needs to capture the people, animals, natural environment of a place – we couldn’t do that without working in partnership with our community. So, this really was a destination-wide effort!

What did you learn along the way?

Heather: We learned so much! Here are a few key takeaways I’d use to summarize:

• Take the time to engage as many voices and as much as possible.
• We are very fortunate to have such interested, passionate and engaged business leaders, employees, and community members.
• The richness of perspectives adds so much strength, depth, and resonance to the brand and values.

Heather Szpecht is a curious and experienced marketing professional with a love of travel. She joined Banff & Lake Louise Tourism in 2021 and currently oversees the Strategy, Brand and Business Intelligence portfolios. She has contributed to the development of key strategic programs, including Lead Tourism for Good: the vision for tourism in Banff and Lake Louise, the Destination Values and Place Brand.