New northern lights tours offered direct from Calgary

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A rising curiosity within the northern lights and Calgary’s reputation with worldwide vacationers has led an journey tour firm to develop its choices, together with a brand new direct aurora tour from the town.

Frontiers North Adventures CEO John Gunter thinks entry to aurora watchers, who additionally get pleasure from Rocky Mountain winter sports activities, equals development potentialities for his family-run Manitoba-based enterprise.

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“We predict it’s obtained nice potential,” says Gunter, who on March 9 launched his firm’s inaugural northern lights tour with a direct flight from Calgary to Churchill in northern Manitoba, on Summit Air.

With fall polar bear viewing season in Churchill at capability and a fleet of “Tundra Buggies” (custom-built all-terrain autos used for photographing and finding out polar bears) sitting idle in winter, the chance was there for Frontiers North to develop its aurora borealis tour choices.

Journey agency hopes to offer ‘further Iconic Canadian expertise’

Churchill — with a inhabitants of roughly 900 folks, 4,000 belugas and 1,000 polar bears — is beneath the aurora oval and on the shoreline of a frozen ocean. With its semi-arid winter local weather, it’s effectively located for seeing northern lights.

Frontiers North supplied 14 multi-day Northern Lights excursions throughout the 2023-24 winter. Selecting Calgary as the situation for its first growth exterior its conventional departure level of Winnipeg was primarily based primarily upon two components.

The corporate had some expertise with personalized Calgary journeys to see polar bears, so its employees knew a constitution hyperlink from YYC was logistically doable. Frontiers North believed a constitution with flying occasions beneath three hours from Calgary to Churchill may save their clients time, a commodity extremely prized by their friends.

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“If we will save our friends a day’s journey on both finish of their journey by going straight from Calgary to Churchill, we predict there may be worth in that,” Gunter says.

Gunter additionally noticed alternatives to achieve worldwide vacationers visiting Banff Nationwide Park.

“We considered leveraging the vital mass of international leisure travellers already in Alberta for the winter wonderland product,” Gunter says. “We are able to present an extra iconic Canadian expertise on the identical journey.”

Frontiers North dabbled in northern lights excursions for years, lots of them small-scale journeys to Nunavut, however then the corporate returned to the place the enterprise began.

“We’ve obtained plenty of property and infrastructure in Churchill that’s required for a comparatively brief polar bear tour throughout autumn and beluga whale tour season in summer time,” says Gunter, pointing to his want to boost the financial and social alternatives for Churchill. At present, Frontiers North Adventures owns a fleet of 12 touring Tundra Buggies, The Tundra Buggy Lodge, one lodge, two eating places and a present store.

Northern lights extra probably seen with anticipated peak of photo voltaic cycle

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“We realized we may take the vitality we have been spending in Nunavut territory and put it into Churchill and have a greater return for our group,” says Gunter. “Our robust go well with, traditionally, has been polar bear viewing. We’ve been doing northern lights excursions for the reason that early 2000s, however we by no means put plenty of weight behind it. In 2015, we actually shifted.”

A brand new concept additionally occurred when Frontiers North partnered with an architect and chef from Winnipeg to strive the idea of meals journey. Uncooked:churchill, a culinary and journey expertise held at Prince of Wales Fort in March 2016, bought out.

“We pioneered this concept to dine beneath the northern lights,” says Gunter. “And that is how we assist Churchill step out from behind the shadow of a polar bear.”

With 2024 anticipated to carry the height of an 11-year photo voltaic cycle and higher aurora borealis visibility, Expedia’s information reveals northern lights are essentially the most sought-after expertise globally this yr.

“This yr’s hotspots are wanting a complete lot cooler with the rise of northern lights tourism, spurred by reviews that the astronomical phenomenon will likely be terribly seen in 2024,” Expedia stated in a information launch earlier this yr.

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Churchill is gaining consideration as a Canadian northern lights vacation spot. Expedia recorded a 173 per cent enhance in Churchill lodge searches from 2022 to 2023 in comparison with Whitehorse with a 20 per cent enhance and Yellowknife with an 18 per cent enhance. Expedia’s prime 10 trending northern lights places worldwide, primarily based on year-over-year search development from 2022 to 2023, ranked Churchill second behind Lapland, Finland and forward of Alta, Norway.

Frontiers North Adventures hopes to learn from this curiosity.

“All of our friends in Churchill this previous season noticed northern lights. It doesn’t imply that it occurred each night time. In case you are on the town for 3 or 4 nights it signifies that you noticed northern lights in your journey (at a while). We predict that’s an excellent observe report,” Gunter says.

On whether or not there will likely be expanded entry from Calgary, Gunter is hopeful however cautious.

“We’re going to start out with one journey and ensure that’s worthwhile after which hopefully, add a second one. These items take time. We incur plenty of losses growing a brand new product like this and it’s the power to keep it up, believing within the product, ” Gunter says. “We’re going to maintain placing within the work.”

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