BANFF – Banff town council has rejected a bid by the owners of Mount Norquay ski and sightseeing resort to lobby the Competition Bureau of Canada to break up a rival’s domination of sightseeing attractions in Banff and Jasper national parks.
At a council meeting Monday (Oct. 29), Mayor Corrie DiManno said the Town of Banff does not have an official position and is taking no action related to Adam Waterous’ request – which charged Pursuit’s gondola and monopoly in the parks is making the Banff townsite’s traffic congestion worse.
“We believe the requested action is beyond our jurisdiction,” said DiManno following a 25-minute in camera meeting with council and Town Manager Kelly Gibson.
“The Town of Banff will, of course, continue to cooperate and answer any questions from the competition bureau as it reviews the complaint.”
Pursuit, a subsidiary of Arizona-based company Viad Corp., controls six of nine paid tourist attractions in Banff and Jasper national parks, about 92 per cent of that market share, following its $25 million acquisition of the Jasper SkyTram this year.
Viad’s other tourist attractions in Banff and Jasper include the Banff Gondola at Sulphur Mountain, the Columbia Icefield Skywalk, the Columbia Icefield Adventure, the Lake Minnewanka Cruise and Maligne Lake Cruise.
Adam Waterous, who owns Banff Mount Norquay with his wife Jan and is behind the push for a multi-modal transportation hub at the train station lands, including a gondola from the townsite to the ski hill which Parks Canada has consistently said no to, had called on the competition bureau to investigate.
The competition bureau has confirmed it is reviewing Viad’s purchase of the Jasper SkyTram.
Waterous said he respects council’s decision that it does not have the jurisdictional authority to request the competition bureau break up of Viad’s monopoly; however, he called on Parks Canada to enforce visitation levels outlined in the 2014 expansion plan for the gondola’s information centre.
He said Parks Canada’s approval of the gondola’s visitor centre expansion in 2014 was, in part, based on Viad’s projections that annual visitation would grow to between 560,000 and 570,000 visitors and then begin to decline.
However, Waterous said publicly available data shows annual visitation to the gondola hit 736,000 in 2019 and noted Viad claimed at a recent Banff meeting that over the last five years, the gondola’s visitation annual growth rate has fallen to one per cent.
“This growth information together with the gondola’s last revealed visitation in 2019 of 736,000 indicates that the Sulphur Mountain gondola’s 2024 annual visitation is at least 774,000,” he said.
“Consequently, Viad’s Sulphur Mountain gondola 2024 visitation of at least 774,000 exceeds the visitation level approved by Parks Canada by at least 209,000. For perspective, Norquay’s total annual summer and winter guests average about 155,000.”
Waterous charges that Viad “hugely exceeding” the visitation level used to secure Parks Canada’s approval to expand the gondola visitor centre is “presumably a violation of their lease with Parks Canada.”
“Parks Canada needs to immediately address Viad contravening the visitation level Parks Canada approved for the Sulphur Mountain gondola visitor centre expansion,” he said.
“Until Parks Canada enforces the Sulphur Mountain Gondola’s approved visitation level of between 560,000 to 570,000, residents and visitors alike with continue to suffer the congestion consequences.”
Pursuit, on the other hand, does not publicly release visitation numbers or exact shuttle ridership to its tourist attractions, but has not publicly challenged the visitation numbers provided by Waterous.
However, the company has said there has been a 19 per cent reduction in traffic on Mountain Avenue since 2019 and half of the visitors to the Banff gondola last summer took various transit options, instead of private vehicles.
A spokesperson for Pursuit did not get back to the Outlook by press time.
DiManno praised the Waterous’ for working to reduce congestion in Banff, particularly the free parking lot for visitors at the Banff train station lands they lease, and commended Viad for their shuttles and financial support to Roam transit on Mountain Avenue to the gondola.
“I stand by those comments and emphasize these actions by private organizations together with actions by the Town of Banff have decreased traffic congestion in town when compared to 2019,” said the mayor.
Banff council has previously called on Parks Canada to implement paid parking or other measures at their parking lots at the Sulphur Mountain gondola and hot pools tourist attractions to decrease traffic volumes to the south side of the Bow River.
“I will also reiterate council’s official position calling on Parks Canada to make changes in the way they manage their parking lots outside town at the gondola and hot springs to discourage visitors from driving up to the Sulphur Mountain gondola, only to be turned away due to full parking lots in summer months,” she said.
“While we’ve seen improvements this summer, the Town of Banff recorded a peak of 46 per cent of vehicles hourly being turned away during the time of our study. We are optimistic to see changes and are hopeful to learn more in the coming year.”