Parks Canada is trying to increase tourism to Aulavik National Park in the N.W.T.

The remote park is about 1,800 kilometres north of Yellowknife on Banks Island.

Only 70 people have visited in the last five years. A two week river trip can cost around $10,000 per person. Diane Wilson, with Parks Canada, said the government wants to work with tourism companies. It’s looking for ways to bring the cost down.

"One of the key things to do in Aulavik National Park is canoeing the Thomsen River, there's a lot of discussion about how we can work with different tour operators and visitor groups to cost share on flight, she said.

"Also potentially in the future caching canoes so the people going in on planes don't have that extra load of the canoes and they can take smaller planes as a result and it's less costly," Wilson said.

A new management plan for the park was released this summer.

It says increasing tourism is a priority, as it could benefit nearby Inuvialuit communities. Sachs Harbour is the only community on Banks Island.

Parks Canada’s website says the park encompasses a variety of landscapes from fertile river valleys to polar deserts, buttes and badlands, rolling hills, and the seacoast. At the heart of Aulavik is the Thomsen River, which offers visitors a chance to paddle one of the continent’s most northerly navigable waterways. This area is home to both the endangered Peary caribou and to the highest density of muskoxen in the world.