Moose Jaw's busiest tourism season is coming to an end, and what a season it has been.

The number of tourists to Moose Jaw was up significantly early on this summer, with an increase anywhere from 12% - 23%. While July was slightly lower compared to years like 2017 when the nation celebrated its 150th birthday, things are on track for August to also have above-average numbers.

Jacki L'Heureux-Mason is the executive director of Tourism Moose Jaw and partly attributes the increases to the lively feud between Moose Jaw and the Norwegian town of Stor-Elvdal, over whose moose statue is bigger.

"We were pretty sure we were gonna have a good year with all the publicity we got over Mac the Moose. We were still shocked though at the number of people who walked in saying, 'So are we gonna be those Norwegians?' I anticipate that once we get his antlers back up in September that we'll probably see a bit more of a spike then too."

Especially interesting to L'Heureux-Mason is the expanding demographic of tourists from around the world visiting the city's places of interest.

"We had a very strong contingent from China this year. And also eastern Europe, which is something we haven't seen a whole bunch of. What was really fascinating to me was that this year, we were seeing an almost equal proportion of American to Canadian visitors. Usually, our local Canadian travellers make up a much bigger portion. I went through our records and I couldn't see a state that wasn't represented."

Camping was a big draw this year as well, with people specifically seeking out Wakamow's campgrounds. The airshow was also huge for tourism, particularly since it happened the same weekend as Sidewalk Days. 

"A lot of the people that would've come to the airshow wouldn't have normally stopped in at our office or done some of the other things around Moose Jaw. But with them both on the same weekend all of a sudden you had 60,000 people in the city!"

Tourism Moose Jaw has been so encouraged by these numbers, that they are extending some of their programming into the fall.

"Typically we cease most of our operations in the fall. But we've decided to keep our trolley running all of September, as well as our downtown and cemetery walking tours. You know, you can always do the Tunnels, you can always do the escape rooms, but we thought if we stay open just a little bit more we can see if it helps. It's the first time we've tried this so we're eager to see if it translates into bigger numbers for us and Moose Jaw in general."

The ghost tours are planned to continue right up until Halloween.