Japanese drawn to Fort Mac's northern lights

Fort McMurray is preparing for a crush of visitors, and it has nothing to do with the oilpatch.

About 600 Japanese tourists are set to descend on the city to take in the northern lights, particularly alluring this time of the year because of the dark.

Johan Louw has been organizing trips for tourists for about 10 years but he says this is his biggest group yet. He says its been a challenge trying to plan for so many people, given the scarcity of available accommodation in Fort McMurray.

"We took a big chance because we had to go out and buy stuff long before the tours were actually a go, the biggest tour we've ever had before was 150 people, but because of the quality of our program we are getting many, many people coming back."

The sky gazers are scheduled to spend about three nights in Fort McMurray learning about the northern lights, followed by a night in Edmonton.

Louw says the northern lights are a big tourist attraction for people from abroad. Some Asians consider it good luck to take in the sights.

"The Japanese and people all over the world are fascinated by the wonders of nature, so the Aurora Borealis is quite an inspiring phenonema and it's one of the top natural wonders that they like to go to."