Banff, Alberta – When Paradise Becomes Parking Lot
Picture this: you’re driving toward what should be a peaceful mountain town, but instead you’re stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic surrounded by thousands of other visitors with the exact same idea. Banff National Park, Canada’s oldest national park, attracted a total of approximately 4.29 million visitors in the fiscal year 2023/24, up from the previous year’s total of 4.13 million. On any typical busy day, Banff sees around 9,500 unique inbound and outbound vehicles, with inbound vehicles estimated to have an average occupancy of 2.4 people per vehicle, which leads to approximately 23,000 day visitors, and Town of Banff officials say that the visitor-adjusted population can go up to 43,000 per day in the summer season. The town’s permanent population is just over 8,000 people, meaning tourists outnumber locals by more than five to one during peak times. Banff National Park visitation has grown 31 percent over the last decade, and Banff National Park saw 4.28 million visits in 2023/24, the busiest year on record. Parks Canada said traffic flaggers were required 24 hours a day in 2022 in response to demand for access to Moraine Lake.
Tofino, British Columbia – Surfing Into Chaos
A popular year-round tourism destination, Tofino’s summer population swells to many times its winter size. This tiny coastal town with just approximately 2,516 residents somehow manages to host an estimated 600,000 visitors in 2018 according to Tourism Tofino studies. That’s nearly 240 visitors for every single resident throughout the year. The math gets even crazier when you consider that most of these visitors show up during the summer months, creating a human tsunami that washes over this formerly quiet fishing village. Tofino’s tourism industry generates $240 million of economic impact, and tourism supports 2,670 direct jobs—1,720 full-time equivalent jobs—generating $60 million in annual wages. While the economic benefits are undeniable, all respondents noted that infrastructure is a major challenge that faces Tofino and that tourism has been promoted without supporting the infrastructure needed for growth, and with such high visitors numbers, infrastructure is in need of updating, however, with a low permanent tax base, the cost of fixing outdated infrastructure is of high concern.
Cavendish, Prince Edward Island – Anne’s Green Nightmare
Thanks to Anne of Green Gables, this sleepy PEI community has become a victim of its own literary success. Cavendish is the largest seasonal resort area in Prince Edward Island with an average daily population in the months of July and August of approximately 7,500 residents. Remember, this is a place that supports a very small year-round population built around agriculture and tourism. During any given week in July and August, the community’s population expands as tens of thousands of tourists flock to the national park and local attractions. The contrast is striking – you can drive through Cavendish in October and see mostly empty parking lots and closed attractions, then return in July to find traffic jams, packed beaches, and lineups everywhere. Prince Edward Island saw 1.7 million visitors in 2024, improving over pre-pandemic numbers and setting a new record for the province. Many of these visitors make Cavendish their primary destination, creating a summer madhouse that would make even Anne Shirley lose her temper.
Whistler, British Columbia – Olympic-Sized Problems
The 2010 Winter Olympics put Whistler on the global map, but nobody warned the town about what would happen next. It has a permanent population of approximately 13,982 (2021), as well as a larger but rotating population of seasonal workers, and over two million people visit Whistler annually, primarily for alpine skiing and snowboarding and, in the summer, mountain biking at Whistler Blackcomb. That means roughly 143 tourists for every permanent resident throughout the year. The numbers become even more mind-boggling when you realize that 3.48 million annual visitors were recorded in some recent years, according to municipal data. During peak ski season, finding a parking spot is like winning the lottery, and the village walkways become so packed with people that locals joke about needing traffic lights for pedestrians. The infrastructure that was built for the Olympics now groans under the weight of year-round tourism that never seems to slow down.
Jasper, Alberta – Nature’s Traffic Jam
While Jasper doesn’t get quite the same crushing crowds as its southern cousin Banff, this mountain town still faces serious overcrowding issues that have residents and park officials scrambling for solutions. The town sits inside Jasper National Park, creating a unique situation where a small community must balance the needs of locals with millions of visitors who treat the place like their personal playground. The number of visitors to Jasper National Park in Canada decreased slightly in the fiscal year 2023/24 compared to the previous year, but the numbers are still overwhelming for the local infrastructure. The town’s main street becomes gridlocked during summer months, and popular hiking trails see lineups that would make a Disney theme park jealous. Wildlife encounters have become more frequent and dangerous as tourists venture deeper into the backcountry, creating headaches for park wardens who must constantly rescue unprepared visitors. The 2024 wildfire season added another layer of complexity, as evacuations and closures disrupted tourism patterns but highlighted how dependent the town has become on visitor dollars.
Quebec City, Quebec – European Crowds in North America
Quebec City’s old-world charm attracts tourists like moths to a flame, but the city’s narrow cobblestone streets weren’t designed for modern tourism volumes. The historic district, a UNESCO World Heritage site, becomes practically impassable during peak summer months as tour buses dump thousands of visitors into an area that was built centuries ago for horse-drawn carriages. Quebec City wraps you in a warm embrace of old-world charm, but that charm gets suffocated when you can barely move through the Place Royale because of shoulder-to-shoulder crowds. Local residents have started avoiding their own downtown core during tourist season, which runs from May through October. The city’s infrastructure strains under the pressure, with public washrooms overflowing, restaurant wait times stretching for hours, and parking becoming virtually impossible. Cruise ship arrivals make the situation even worse, as thousands of passengers flood the narrow streets all at once, creating human traffic jams that can last for hours.
Lunenburg, Nova Scotia – UNESCO World Heritage, Modern Problems
This picturesque fishing town of fewer than 2,500 permanent residents has become a victim of its own UNESCO World Heritage status and Instagram fame. Lunenburg’s colorful waterfront buildings and maritime history draw visitors from around the world, but the town’s infrastructure simply wasn’t built to handle modern tourism volumes. During summer months, the population can triple or quadruple as tour buses roll in and cruise ships dock at the harbor. The narrow streets become clogged with rental cars driven by tourists who don’t know where they’re going, creating chaos for locals trying to go about their daily business. Parking has become such a nightmare that residents sometimes can’t access their own homes, and local businesses report being overwhelmed during peak times. Even smaller towns like Tofino in British Columbia or Lunenburg in Nova Scotia are becoming tourism hotspots. The town’s charm lies in its authenticity as a working fishing community, but that authenticity gets lost when every square inch is packed with selfie-taking tourists who treat the place like a theme park rather than a living, breathing community.
What happens when your hometown becomes everyone else’s vacation destination? These seven Canadian towns know the answer all too well, and it’s not always pretty.
