The Whitefish Moose Lodge was a full house for the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce’s Business Breakfast meeting on April 24. 

Glacier National Park Superintendent Dave Roemer, Explore Whitefish Executive Director Julie Mullins and Glacier Park International Airport Director Rob Ratkowski gave tourism outlooks for the upcoming summer.

Mullins shared that last year, Whitefish saw a 7% decline in spending. Visitor spending represented 57% of all point of purchase spending in the city.

Looking forward, Whitefish is 10-15% behind in summer reservations as compared to this time last year. At this time last year, Whitefish was at about 75% occupancy as compared to the previous years’ pandemic surges.

“Short-term rental supply far exceeds demand,” added Mullins.

Despite the reported and predicted decreases in reservations and spending, Ratkowski said that 2023 was a strong year for air travel to the area, with an 8.5% increase in flights and an increase in off-season traffic. 

The airport’s primary focus this year includes the next steps in the terminal expansion project. The ticketing lobby and baggage claim area are set to reopen May 22, and the public central core opens May 2025. 

Other airport outlooks include moderating growth, persisting challenges with fuel and crew costs, and the addition of connections to Santa Rosa and Sonoma in California.

In speaking about Glacier National Park, Roemer said new changes to the reservation system will increase accessibility. 

This includes a better likelihood of obtaining a reservation the day prior to visiting, he said. About 70% of Going-to-the-Sun Road reservations will be saved for day-before reservations during the shoulder seasons and about 40% will be saved during the peak season.  

“If the community loses our voice in managing ourselves and our stories, we lose our authenticity,” Mullins said in regards to recent discussion about tourism management.

“If we don’t manage ourselves, someone else will,” she concluded.