Competitors cry monopoly as American company buys more Banff, Jasper attractions
CTV
An American company that owns the majority of Banff and Jasper’s most popular tourist attractions is under fire from its Canadian competitors.
An American company that owns the majority of Banff and Jasper’s most popular tourist attractions is under fire from its Canadian competitors.
Arizona-based VIAD Corp. acquired the Jasper SkyTram earlier this summer. The purchase brought its share of the area’s so-called “prime paid” tourist attractions to six of nine.
Local businesses peg that as a 92 per cent market share of the national parks’ main tourism activities.
They’re accusing VIAD of “monopolistic practices.”
“A monopoly chokes off competition, reduces alternatives and forces the visitor — the consumer — to have only choices that they are offering,” Norquay Ski and Sightseeing Resort’s Adam Waterous said. “That’s the problem.”
Waterous claims the lack of oversight by Parks Canada has led to skyrocketing prices and congestion in the towns’ centres.
“That’s what monopolistic power does,” he told CTV News. “And the reason it matters is if you’re coming to Banff, you’re going to pay a lot more money to see these attractions, and you’re not going to have any alternatives because they have choked off all the competition.”
