Canada's safest bet for the northern lights is courting the UK trade

The remote region, known as NWT, sits above Alberta and comprises 1.4 million square kilometres – roughly the size of France – but with a population of only 40,000. Yellowknife, the capital, has a population of around 20,000. The landscape, bisected by the Arctic Circle, is both forested and tundra.

“We have not worked in the UK market too much,” Joel Walton, Northwest Territories Tourism chief marketing officer, told TTG. Walton said he wanted to find UK partners. “I have meetings with the UK trade and funding to market there.”

He explained the time was right to promote the destination in the UK.

“Our biggest challenge prior to the pandemic has been air access, but we now have direct Air Canada flights from Toronto to Yellowknife. They started last year and the loads have been really good, it’s massive for us.”

The four and a half-hour flight is complemented by an existing service from Vancouver, taking around two and a half hours.

Walton claimed the region was “the best place in the world” to see the Northern Lights. “You have a 98% chance over three nights in season,” he said. “In the last 15 years, the number of clear nights without them is four. In September and October we see them every night.” Walton added NWT’s flat landscape meant unobstructed views of the Aurora.

He stressed the “genuine” feel of the destination, where 51% of its people are Indigenous. “We also have a waterfall in the Nahanni National Park twice the height of Niagara – it gets 300 visitors a year. Plus, you can stand on the Arctic Ocean in winter.”

One product NWT is keen to promote are fishing lodges which have been taken into Indigenous ownership and now have a broader offering, including wellness and Indigenous experiences such as trekking with locals.

“This is a product I am really going to push in the UK,” Walton said.