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Banff and Lake Louise: You may have heard of these Canadian destinations before. Whether it’s great ski slopes or outstanding Fairmont hotels (one of which sits right on the famous lake), they’re rightfully on many people’s bucket lists. Although both locations have strong leisure tourism (about 30 minutes apart in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta), they are also prime destinations for group gatherings.
In late January, Tourism Canada invited nearly 40 planners and vendors to experience it first-hand during its 2024 Winter Incentives event. The three-day event took the group to Banff and Lake Louise, staying at their respective Fairmont hotels to get a feel for what the rewards program looks like and feels like as a winter resort nestled in one of Canada’s famous national parks.
“Banff is a great destination because it’s great for all seasons,” said Jennifer Attersall, Acting Senior Director of Business Events at Tourism Canada. “So both destinations could be suitable for summer or winter programs, but we thought it would be very special to highlight winter offerings this year.”
Below, we’ve detailed Banff and Lake Louise’s hotels, meeting spaces, cultural significance, and some outdoor winter activities.
Venue
The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel is also known as Canada’s “Castle of the Rockies” and has a history of more than 130 years. This luxury mountain resort has 739 guest rooms and more than 76,000 square feet of meeting and event space. A striking feature within the hotel is the 2,300-square-foot Mt. Stephen Hall, which features high ceilings, stained glass windows and glazed stone floors. The hotel hosted Incentive Winter’s welcome reception here and invited Naomi Langer-McIntosh of Mountainscape Events to transform the room into a cozy mountain retreat.
The Rundle Bar in Banff Springs is also a noteworthy location, offering stunning views of the surrounding mountains and is the perfect venue for a breakfast or welcome reception.
Located in Lake Louise, the venerable Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise is surrounded by towering peaks; Victoria Glacier; and, of course, the stunning emerald green hues of Lake Louise. There are 36,000 square feet of meeting and event space. Our first choice venue: The Victoria Ballroom. Its large windows overlook the lake and mountains, and its vaulted ceilings and large stone fireplace create an upscale cabin feel.
If you’d like to take your group a short distance away, the hotel can arrange a five-minute horse-drawn sleigh ride to the Brewster Cowboys BBQ and Dance Barn for an authentic Western-themed dinner and entertainment.
The castle is currently undergoing guest room renovations, which are scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. The hotel also added a state-of-the-art spa and wellness center on the site of the outdoor swimming pool. The project is scheduled to open in spring 2025.
Speaking of renovations: If you’re planning a project in Banff in the future, keep The Rimrock Resort Hotel in mind. The Rimrock is currently run by Accor (which owns the Fairmont brand) and will soon undergo a complete refurbishment. It plans to complete the project sometime in 2026 under the Accor brand name.
Outdoor activities
While speaking with Canadian event and DMO professors from across the country during the award winter, it was clear that it was all about connecting with nature when promoting their programs and destinations in Canada. Banff and Lake Louise are no exception.
Without a doubt one of the area’s main attractions, if not the this The main attraction) is its natural beauty. So, meeting plans here should certainly include outdoor activities – and in winter, the options for outdoor activities are truly unique.
Sunshine Village Ski Resort is home to Banff’s ski runs across three mountain ranges, while Lake Louise Ski Resort has 4,200 acres of skiable terrain. For something a little more relaxed, groups can gather at Banff Trail Riders in the winter for horse-drawn sleigh rides, ice sculpting lessons, and hot drinks around the campfire.
Excursions here also include guided ice walking tours, snowshoeing or cross-country skiing (a must-do around or on frozen Lake Louise), dog sledding with Kingmik Dog Sled Tours and fat biking with Bikescape bike.
How to respect Aboriginal culture
When leading groups to Banff and Lake Louise, it is important to acknowledge that Native people have lived in the foothills and forests of the Rocky Mountains for thousands of years. The area now known as Banff National Park is known as the Holy Land and is home to natural hot springs used for healing.
There are many ways planners can incorporate Aboriginal culture into their projects. For example, during Inspiring Winter, Hal Eagle Tail gave a blessing at the opening reception. He is known as the Keeper of Knowledge among the northern Dene Tsuut’ina people.
Hands-on activities are another way to teach groups more about the heritage and history of the land. During the inspiring winter event, Matricia Bauer from Warrior Women led an Aboriginal tea making experience. In “Women Warriors,” Ball is part of a collective of Aboriginal women who play drums, sing and try to educate others about the beauty of their culture. Their headquarters are located in Jasper, Alberta. Bauer also operates Wisakipakos Indigenous Bitters, an herbal business that produces small bottles of botanical-infused culinary extracts for flavoring mocktails, cocktails, teas and food—these bitters are given away as part of a winter incentive campaign The perfect gift for anyone.
Watch Bauer’s recent TED talk here.
How to maintain sustainable development
If nature is the number one promotion point that attracts groups to Canada, then sustainability is not far behind. This is one of the main focuses of the winter incentive program. The program does a noteworthy job of demonstrating how incentive programs and retreats can incorporate elements of sustainable activities. Examples include shared airport transfers, prioritizing suppliers that implement sustainable practices (including the hotel component of the program), offering menus featuring local (sometimes vegetarian) ingredients, and tracking and offsetting emissions.
“Sustainability is a huge pillar of Destination Canada,” Atsall said, “and we need to lead by example.”
Parléview is one of Tourism Canada’s suppliers, helping manage the program and providing sustainable details such as recycled wooden nameplates (goodbye, plastic). Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise also has a number of ways of giving back to its surrounding environment, including a dedicated on-site water treatment plant, phasing out single-use plastics and a dedicated sustainability committee. Incentive Winter also uses TRACE software to track the carbon footprint of events and set benchmarks for future events.
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