Competition Bureau Canada has launched an investigation into VIAD Corp., an Arizona-based company that’s dominating the attraction market in Canada’s Banff and Jasper National Parks.
The investigation was prompted by complaints from the owners of Norquay Mystic Ridge, Sunshine Village, and Lake Louise Ski and Sightseeing Resort, after Pursuit, VIAD’s attractions and hospitality subsidiary, purchased the Jasper SkyTram from Parks Canada in July. The owners of the three complainants, all Canadian, claim that Pursuit is choking them out of the area’s attraction market.
The bureau said in an email that it cannot reveal any information until the investigation is complete, but if Pursuit is found to be causing a substantial lessening or prevention of competition, the company could be forced to divest some of its assets.
With the purchase of the Jasper SkyTram, Pursuit now owns six out of nine of the major sightseeing attractions in Banff and Jasper National Parks. This includes the Sulphur Mountain Gondola, Columbia Icefield Adventure, Columbia Icefield Skywalk, the Malign Lake Cruise, and the Lake Minnewanka Cruise (along with 10 hotels throughout the national parks and the Brewster Express bus line). According to a 2020 investor presentation from VIAD, the company’s five original attractions saw approximately 1.7 million annual visitors. The Jasper SkyTram will bring that up to 1.8 million, giving Pursuit 92 per cent of the area’s attraction market share.
Kananaskis Country introduces $90 annual fee
Thanks to this position, Pursuit has been able to offer a 40 per cent discount to visitors who purchase tickets to five of their attractions. In a letter to Parks Canada and the Competition Bureau, Adam Waterous, the chairman of Norquay, said that this deal dissuades visitors from purchasing tickets to other attractions.
Waterous also pointed out that Pursuit’s dominance has allowed it to substantially raise ticket prices. The Sulphur Mountain Gondola went from costing $29 in 2012 to $85 in 2024, four times the average annual rate of Canada’s inflation.
In June, the federal government updated Canada’s Competition Act, stating that a company couldn’t hold more than 30 per cent of a market’s share.
“Consequently, should the competition bureau break up VIAD’s monopoly by reducing its market share to 30 per cent of Banff and Jasper sightseeing attractions, VIAD will be forced to divest five of its now six attractions and be left with just the Sulphur Mountain Gondola,” Waterous wrote in a letter to Banff’s town council on October 1. The letter was intended to convince the council to support his bureau complaint against VIAD.
Parks Canada focussed more on tourism than conservation, report finds
Waterous took further aim at Pursuit in his letter, stating that Pursuit’s renovation of the Sulphur Mountain Gondola Visitor Centre in 2015 is directly responsible for increased traffic congestion through Banff. The town has been attempting to combat its severe traffic conditions for several years, launching its bus system Roam in 2008 and introducing new transit routes throughout Banff National Park in 2017. The town encourages visitors to take public transit to attractions rather than driving themselves.
Waterous provided a report to council claiming that traffic congestion in Banff increased by 24 per cent after the renovation of the Sulphur Mountain Gondola Visitor Centre, and that Pursuit was hindering efforts decrease this traffic.
The hinderance Waterous is referring to is Pursuit’s opposition to Norquay’s plan to build a rival gondola near Banff’s train station that would take visitors to the top of Mt. Norquay and provide ample parking for vehicles, preventing them from driving through town. Waterous submitted this plan to council in 2018. Parks Canada, however, has shut this idea down citing ecological concerns within the national park.
10 of the best mountain views in Canada
During an October 28 meeting, Banff’s town councillors rejected supporting Waterous’ complaint to the Competition Bureau against Pursuit. The council said it felt that the issue with Pursuit was outside its jurisdiction, so the town would stay neutral on the matter, complying with any of the bureau’s requests.
The bureau was unable to provide a timeline for how long its investigation might take.
Related Story Parks Canada shares photos of wildlife in the aftermath of the wildfire in Jasper, Alta.
Related Story Parks Canada closes waterways in two national parks after invasive parasite detected
Related Story The most beautiful day hikes across Canada