Banff tourism up partly due to low loonie, say merchants

An upswing in visitors to Banff may have something to do with the low Canadian loonie, say merchants in the Rocky Mountaintown.

On the tightly packed town streets, many American tourists told CBC News that shopping feels like a deal with the Canadian dollar at 70 cents to the U.S. dollar.

"We're able to buy a little more," said Travis Blackwell, a visitor from Utahwho said the low looniehelped his family decide to visit Alberta."Between that and the beautiful scenery here, where else would you want to go?"

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Tommy Soukas, owner of Tommy's Neighbourhood Pub, has seen about a 10 to 15 per cent increase in business over past years.

"The Canadian dollar has a lot to do with it," he said. "It's been a great year. We've seen a lot of traffic coming through this area this year...what's better this year is that we see a lot of people from other countries the United States because of the low dollar and also a lot of Europeans."

Ossi Treutler, head of Freya's Gifts and Jewellery, has also seen a boom in business.

"I think to the average person it's probably not the deciding factor of why they come here, but it's definitely a bonus when they come here and helps them to remember howinexpensive [Canada] is in relation to other parts of the world."