With tourists still worried about wildfires, N.W.T. tour operators say it was a disappointing fall

Tour operators in the N.W.T. say that even after evacuations lifted, wildfires continued to put a damper on their fall aurora tourism season this year. 

"It seems like travellers have lost confidence in Yellowknife," said Joe Bailey, who has been running aurora tours through his company North Star Adventures since 2007.

Bailey said before Yellowknife's evacuation, the fall aurora season from mid-August to mid-October was shaping up to be his busiest since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. But after Yellowknife's evacuation, half of his customers cancelled their bookings. 

He isn't alone. Several tour operators told CBC they continued to see cancellations after evacuations in the territory ended.

Gord Gin is the owner of Yellow Dog Lodge, a wilderness lodge in the North Slave that specializes in fishing and aurora tourism.

He said about 70 per cent of clients who had booked a stay for this fall cancelled after the Yellowknife-area evacuations, citing "still lingering smoke in the air and just uncertainty about the Yellowknife and area" as the reason.

It has been a stressful fall for Gin, who almost lost Yellow Dog Lodge earlier in the summer when wildfires came dangerously close to his property.

"You thought you had a handle on it and then all of a sudden COVID hit. Then 2023 comes along and we're in line for the best year ever, and then the fires hit. And you're going, 'Well, what's next?'" Gin said.

Verda Law, owner of Yellowknife Tours, told CBC some travellers also told her they were worried about coming to Yellowknife because of concerns that the fires might have damaged infrastructure in the city or destroyed natural areas.

She worries those fears may continue to impact tourism in the winter. 

"[Tourists] don't know too much about the weather," she said. "We know that in the wintertime we don't have to worry. But sometimes people overseas, they don't understand." 

But not all of the signs are bad. 

Yellowknife's visitor information centre recorded 3,976 visitors from Sept. 12 to Oct. 8 this year, compared to only 3,496 visitors from Sept. 12 to Oct. 31 in 2022. 

Joe Bailey said so far, his bookings for the winter are looking good. Despite the difficult fall, he is expecting this winter's aurora tourism season will be the busiest North Star Adventures has had since the pandemic.