BANFF – The owners of Mount Norquay have asked Banff council to lobby the Competition Bureau of Canada to break up Pursuit’s domination of sightseeing attractions in Banff and Jasper national parks, arguing the U.S.-based company’s monopoly and Banff gondola adds to the tourist town’s congestion woes.
Pursuit, a subsidiary of Arizona-based Viad Corp., controls six of nine paid tourist attractions in the two flagship national parks, about 92 per cent of that market share, following its $25 million acquisition of the Jasper SkyTram this year.
In his submission to Banff council, Adam Waterous, a Banff resident, former oil tycoon and owner of Mount Norquay, said visitation to the Banff gondola on Sulphur Mountain far exceeds Viad’s own projections, which is a result of its expanding monopoly by adding the Glacier Skywalk in 2014 and Maligne Lake Cruise in 2016 to its portfolio.
“Viad then bundled its then five attractions in Banff and Jasper national parks with a 40 per cent discount pass. Of course, VIAD would only offer a 40 per cent discount on price if they believed that they would make that up by increasing the volume of visitors,” he said in his letter dated Oct. 1.
“Viad’s monopoly is directly leading to the excess number of visitors at the Sulphur Mountain Gondola and the increased congestion in town.”
On July 4, Waterous – whose company Liricon is behind a push for an aerial gondola from the train station lands to Mount Norquay that Parks Canada has repeatedly said no to because it goes against park policy – asked Parks Canada to not approve the announced acquisition of the Jasper SkyTram.
At the same time, he also asked the Competition Bureau of Canada to look into the matter, specifically Viad’s proposed acquisition of the SkyTram and separately Viad’s “abuse of its dominant position in Jasper and Banff by significantly increasing prices and obstructing potential competitors.”
While it has not launched a full-scale investigation into breaking up Pursuit's attractions in the parks, the competition bureau this week confirmed it is reviewing the transaction between Viad and the Jasper SkyTram following Parks Canada’s final approval of the acquisition.
Sarah Brown, a spokesperson for the competition bureau, said it is difficult to say how long this particular review will take, as the bureau evaluates the steps that need to be taken on a case-by-case basis.
“I can confirm that we are reviewing the transaction between Viad Corp. and Jasper SkyTram,” Brown said.
“As the bureau is required by law to conduct its work in private, including its merger reviews, I am unable to provide further information at this time.”
Banff Mayor Corrie DiManno said she couldn’t comment at this time on Waterous’ request for council to get involved in the dispute between the two rivals, but the issue is on the agenda for council’s Oct. 28 meeting.
“I feel it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment before we have received information from administration on this topic and council has had an opportunity to discuss the request,” said the mayor.
Along with the newly acquired Jasper SkyTram, Pursuit’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.
Sunshine Village and Lake Louise ski resorts, which also have summer sightseeing gondolas and lifts, have both said Pursuit is squeezing them out of the market.
Waterous said Viad’s monopoly of sightseeing attractions led to rapidly increasing prices and decreased visitor options, adding recent amendments to the Competition Act deem mergers presumptively anti-competitive if they result in a combined market share exceeding 30 per cent.
He said an analysis of publicly available data has revealed the extent to which Viad’s monopoly is also contributing to congestion in Banff, noting the number of visitors to the gondola increased from 448,178 in 2010 to 736,000 in 2019.
Specifically, he said, visitation to the gondola by 2019 increased by 52 per cent, or more than a quarter of a million people per year following Parks Canada’s approval of the expansion of the Banff gondola visitor centre in 2014.
Yet, Waterous said, Parks Canada did not require the gondola to have any traffic mitigations despite the stated objective of the project to increase visitation.
“By 2019, VIAD had already exceeded by 145,000 visitors/year its own projections it gave to Parks Canada in an application to expand the Sulphur Mountain Gondola Visitor Centre,” he said.
Over the same time period, Waterous said traffic on Mountain Avenue to the gondola increased by 250,000 vehicles, up 24 per cent.
“Virtually all of this traffic originates from downtown Banff and has to cross over the Bow River Bridge chokepoint,” he said.
“Clearly the growth in visitation to Viad’s Sulphur Mountain Gondola has been the primary driver of increasing congestion in the Town of Banff.”
Stuart Back, chief operating officer for Pursuit’s Banff and Jasper tourist attractions, did not comment on Waterous’ statements or letter to mayor and council requesting that the Town of Banff lobby the competition bureau.
Back said Pursuit also does not publicly release visitation numbers to its tourist attractions.
“As many businesses would attest, we don’t share every detail about every element of our business … it’s a private business,” he said.
Back said the more important issue than visitation numbers is that traffic on Mountain Avenue to the gondola is significantly down.
“From 2019 to 2024, we experienced modest growth in visitation and a remarkable 19 per cent reduction in traffic on Mountain Avenue,” he said.
Back said 50 per cent of visitors to the Banff gondola last summer took various transit options.
He said the mode shift stems from years of work with the Town and Parks Canada, such as targeted social media campaigns, complimentary Roam passes for all gondola users, high-frequency Pursuit and Rimrock Resort shuttles, and proactive traffic and parking management at the Sulphur Mountain lots.
“Traffic on Mountain Avenue during peak summer months is lower than it has been at any time since 2006, with a 19 per cent reduction since 2019,” he said.
Meanwhile, Waterous said Viad’s sightseeing attraction monopoly power is further strengthened by its ownership of 10 hotels in Banff and Jasper national parks, making the company the third largest hotel owner in the national parks.
“By being vertically integrated with a high market share in visitor accommodation, Viad can cross-market its sightseeing attractions directly to its hotel guests,” Waterous said.
“This commanding position in hotels allows Viad to sell its bundled sightseeing attractions to visitors at the time they make their hotel reservations. In contrast, amongst the other major sightseeing attraction operators (Norquay, Sunshine, Lake Louise) only Sunshine owns a hotel.”
In an Aug. 19 reply to Waterous’ July 4 letter to Parks Canada and the Competition Bureau, Parks Canada’s chief executive officer Ron Hallman said Waterous’ concerns regarding Viad Corp. fall under the Bureau's purview.
“The independent agency is best positioned to look into your concerns,” wrote Hallman. “Should the competition bureau delve into the topic, Parks Canada will collaborate with the bureau.”
On Oct. 21, Viad, which is valued at $1.4 billion including debt, announced it was selling its events and conferences business GES to private equity firm Truelink Capital for $535 million.
The transaction separates GES, a global exhibition services and experiential marketing business, from Viad’s Pursuit attractions and hospitality business.
“After careful evaluation, and with both businesses performing at very high levels, we believe that now is the right time to separate GES and create a standalone publicly traded Pursuit,” said Steve Moster, Viad’s president and chief executive officer in a press release.