Banff National Park reopens to day-use visitors

Banff National Park joins others across the country Monday in officially reopening to visitors.

Superintendent Dave McDonough says Banff Canada's busiest national park will open in gradual phases with a focus first on day-use.

He says the park will be restricting parking to designated areas, and beefing up staffing at those lots to enforce social distancing.

"We also have taken action to continue the restriction on vehicle access for the east section of the Bow Valley Parkway. So this does not apply to cyclists or pedestrians and it does provide an added bonus of a great cycling opportunity," he said.

McDonough says they're also working to put measures in place to turn the Minnewanka Loop road into a one-way road for vehicles.

The other lane will be accessible to cyclists.

McDonough says things will look a lot like people are used to, but there will be some differences related to meeting and ensuring new health and safety standards.

"We are putting an emphasis on restricting parking to designated parking areas and in some locations where it's a large parking area," he said.

"There may be further restrictions as well. And that's the purpose of that is to really try to minimize crowding and create a situation where people can practice proper social distancing."

McDonough says there will be officials actively managing most parking areas, and helping to provide up to date information to visitors.

Banff is the country's busiest national park, with about four million visitors annually.

More than half of Canada's national parks including Pacific Rim in British Columbia and Cape Breton Highlands in Nova Scotia reopened June 1.