Asked what they most valued about living in Whitefish, residents overwhelmingly named "the people and knowing your neighbors," a recent study on tourism found.  

The results of the survey conducted by the Whitefish Sustainable Tourism Management Plan Committee last spring were presented Oct. 23 at a tourism town hall. 

There's a lot of tourism competition from adjacent states, said Zak Anderson, executive director of Explore Whitefish, the Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau.  

"But there's something that I think a lot of these communities don't have, that we do, and that's an authentic, real, year-round community filled with great people who live and work here. 

"We get a lot of feedback from guests, 'Oh, it's so friendly, there's a real sense of community.' For me, that's the through-line on this idea of a more holistic management approach, where we're not just investing in advertisements, but we're investing in the research, in nonprofits, in affordable housing. We're partnering with businesses and entities." 

"It's all connected," he said.  

The 2026 spring survey collected responses from 360 people, primarily year-round residents. Of note, respondents were generally wealthier and more likely to own homes than the overall Whitefish population. The survey results were analyzed by Melissa Weddell of the University of Montana's Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the town hall.  

Surveyors broadly agreed that visitors are important to Whitefish’s economy. One-third of respondents' paycheck is tied to visitation. 

In the survey, residents deemed workforce housing the top issue. Workforce housing was described as a question of community survival, not a market condition.  

According to Weddell's analysis, tourism management usually focuses on volume, seasonality and behavior. However, Whitefish residents named in-migration, second-home ownership, remote work, speculative development and luxury housing as concerns. 

Whitefish added more residents during the last five years than during the entire previous decade. Whitefish’s population grew from 6,357 residents in 2010 to 7,751 in 2020 before reaching an estimated 9,358 residents in 2025. 

Weddell noted that growth isn't always a bad thing, citing her rural hometown as a community that's died off. She said Flathead County's quality of life ranks 95% higher than the rest of the country.  

In addition to the people, Whitefish residents value access to the outdoors and public lands.  

"The findings suggest people are focused less on adding new amenities and more on preserving what they already have," Weddell said.  

Surveyors were divided on short-term rentals. Some favored eliminating them while others supported limiting them. Some defended their economic value. There are 383 active, on-the-books short-term rentals within Whitefish city limits and roughly 1,350 listings across the broader Whitefish market. Thirty-day rentals do not count as short-term rentals, often leaving a few more dark homes. 

In downtown, surveyors described souvenir shops replacing local businesses, everyday services disappearing, and restaurants becoming less accessible. Congestion concerns included parking, gridlocks, road capacity, signal timing and pedestrian conflicts.  

THE TOWN hall also had a presentation from Matt Gebo, sales and marketing director for Whitefish Mountain Resort. 

"We thought we were going to have the biggest summer in the last decade because of how June visitation came. And then, as soon as Fourth of July ended, and the airport was closed, it all kind of went sideways," Gebo said.  

The resort was hurt by the airport closure and 21 days of wildfire smoke, he said. They lost about 30% of expected chairlift rides in those 21 days. The bike park was up in season pass visits but down in day tickets. Lodging up was up 2% from last year but still far off the visitation boom five years ago.  

While the Big Mountain timber project impacted hiker and biker routes, skiers will reap the benefits with two new runs this winter, Bad Medicine and Big Twig. Beyond the fuels project, resort employees worked on 125 additional acres across the mountain. There were facility improvements such as new carpet and there are two new snowcats and six new snowmaking machines. 

Season pass sales as of Sept. 30 were mostly flat year over year. Decreases in the adult and teen passes paired with increases in senior and junior passes means the number of passes is level but the revenue isn't. Lodging reservations are trending 16% lower than last year. 

"Coming off a tough winter, economics and the price of flights right now are surely having an impact," Gebo said.  

Gebo said he's taking super El Niño forecasts with a grain of salt.  

"The super El Niño, it's the elephant in the room for the ski industry up in this part of the country. Every long-range forecast is saying it's going to be less snow, and it's going to be warmer. Well, if you remember at this same meeting last year, I stood here with predictions for a snowier and colder winter, and I hate to tell you, but that didn't happen."  

The last super El Nino was the 2015-2016 season, when Big Mountain received 311 total inches at the summit.  

"Snow cures all," Gebo said. "We'll see a shift when we start seeing some snow fall." 

Editor Kelsey Evans can be reached at 406-862-3505 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at whitefishpilot.com/support.