The summer months are usually a very busy time for the valley. However, this year it seems people are coming from further away.
“We’ve been seeing extremely good numbers. Actually over July long weekend, over 50 countries were represented. We had guests from every single province and territory in Canada, 31 states were represented out of the United States, and something really interesting was we had almost as many people from Saskatoon as we did from Red Deer,” said Leanna Mohan, marketing coordinator for the Royal Tyrrell Museum.
“We were up five per cent in June, from about 41,050 visitors last year to 43,210 this year.”
June was a busy month for the Royal Tyrrell Museum, but July has already been busier. As of July 17, the museum saw 57,513 visitors walk through the front doors.
The nice weather Mohan said has been a contributing factor. However, the Calgary Stampede is another big draw for tourists.
“With the Stampede gonig on there are just so many more visitors coming to Alberta. After they check out the Stampede they want to see other parts of the province and I think that’s what draws them here,” said Mohan.
The Tyrrell isn’t the only museum that has been enjoying the crowds.
Atlas Coal Mine National Histoic Site saw a 27 per cent increase in visitors from about 949 visitors last July long weekend compared to around 1,205 this year.
“Looking at the crowds coming in, there definitely seems to be more diversity in the guests this year than seen in previous years,” said Linda Digby, executive director at Atlas Coal Mine.
The extreme heat put sort of a damper on visitor numbers Digby said. On the hot, sunny days she said they would see a lot of activity in the morning but by high noon people were searching for somewhere to beat the heat.
“I think when the temperature soars people are more apt to go to the spray park and places like that and who could blame them. When the weather softens a bit is when we see more guests, and we are quite happy with the numbers we’ve been seeing this year so far,” said Digby.
Over at the Homestead Museum, visitor numbers have been holding steady.
“We’ve been seeing around 20 to 40 people per day. There have been many from the States, eastern Canada, and even Europe,” said Alec Hammond, who is a customer service clerk at the Homestead Museum.
Hot or rainy weather usually brings people indoors to see the exhibit said Hammond.
Visiting from Belgium, Jo Duyck said they mostly came for the dinosaurs but were amazed at everything the valley had to offer once they arrived.
“We have a lot to see. I don’t know if we will be able to do it all in one day but we're sure going to try,” said Duyck.
