The snow has been falling in Banff all day and some forecasters predict there will be more of it than usual this winter and that’s good news for local businesses.
Tourism numbers have improved over the last few years and a warm summer helped to draw crowds this year.
Ski resorts are opening early and Banff retailers are looking ahead to a boom in business.
Almost every business in town, from chocolate shops to restaurants, say more snow means more business.
“Weekends will be really busy. People from Calgary will come out more if there's lots of snow and I think another way it will be positive is internationally if we have repeated years of big snow then we will get more international visitors,” said Kathy Johnson from Coyotes Deli and Grill.
Johnson says the early snowfall is very good for business and they expect to be busy this season.
Ken McMurdo is the owner of Mountain Chocolates and says weekends are strong and they are hoping for lots of international traffic to fill out the week.
“If we can get the people here then they will come up and down the street and start buying chocolate so it’s good for us,” said McMurdo.
Mount Norquay opened last week for skiing and Lake Louise and Sunshine are hoping to open November 9th.
