It’s safe to say that the Moose Jaw tourism industry is slowly making its way back this summer, following COVID-19 halting things the previous two years.  

This summer people have been flocking from all over, filling the streets and businesses throughout the city, as events, weddings, and more are in full swing.  

Tourism Moose Jaw’s Executive Director Jackie L’Hereaux-Mason has definitely seen the influx of tourists through her office, after being partially shut down over the last two years.  

“I was looking over the average the previous five years to the pandemic,” says L’Hereaux-Mason. “We're sitting at anywhere between 90 to 105 per cent of our previous number for July. We know the people are here, we know how busy our office is, how many people are in our parking lot, and how many people are taking pictures with Mac the Moose.” 

“The people are coming to Moose Jaw. I’ve been downtown a couple of times and seen clusters of people, which has been amazing, and haven’t seen that in three years,” adds L’Hereaux-Mason. 

Prior to the pandemic in 2019, Moose Jaw had a record-breaking year in terms of tourism, L’Hereaux-Mason notes. 

Though the industry has completely opened up once again, some businesses are feeling the pinch and adjusting to the competition.  

“The options to do last summer were quite limited so the people that were coming were doing the same events over and over again. I know there has been a little bit of, I’ll call it a market share adjustment just that all the people are here but there are so many things back to being open that some businesses have seen a slight decrease.” 

One event that was beneficial to all downtown businesses was the return of the Moose Jaw Sidewalk Days Festival, where thousands of people ventured into the event over three days.  

“It was full. It was a really great rebirth of the festival. When we talked to most of the people they were so incredibly happy. It felt was the first step to really being back to normal for people.” 

She estimates that on Thursday around 10,000 people visited the event, with about 5,000 on Friday, and around 10,000 people on Saturday, which was the most ever seen on Saturday.  

Tourists have flocked to Moose Jaw for more than just their many events, the city has a lot of history and activities to bring people in. L’Hereaux-Mason shared a recent interaction with a family from Quebec about why they decided to visit the city.   

“They have never ventured this far west before. They were a little apprehensive about what they were going to find. Their plan was to stay one night in Moose Jaw and they were going to continue on to Calgary. After just one quick drive through the city, they were blown away by how charming Moose Jaw was. They actually made the decision on the spot to stay an extra two nights in the city.” 

The tourism department is seeing roughly 300 to 400 people a day come through their office.  

L’Hereaux-Mason says that the return to tourism this summer has been a huge success. 

“Absolutely, I don't think you’re ever going to expect on any normal year and having two years of literally having no idea what to expect, it was a real challenge to know what to do coming into this year," she says.

She concluded by showing gratitude towards the business community saying that without them there would be no tourism industry.  

“They have endured so much in the past two years to make the sacrifices they needed to do to stay open so they could see this moment and come back. I have so much respect for what they do.”