As the Town of Banff handled another record summer of vehicle visits, officials in the mountain mecca say they wouldn’t be opposed to turning away motorists during their busiest times.

In the peak tourism months of July and August, 1.76 million vehicles arrived in Banff and left it — 47,000 more than in 2024, which was itself a record-setting year.

It’s thought some of that increase was driven by free admission into Canada’s national parks this summer but there’s no doubting the traffic gridlock that sometimes grips the town, said those who oversee it.

“We’re up six per cent over last year, and last year was a record. The bottom line is the trend is going up,” said town spokesman Jason Darrah.

“We had the second-most vehicles in July even though it was a rainy month.”

When the town

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