A Canadian competition watchdog is calling for more to be done to avoid a monopoly among businesses providing paid experiences in Alberta’s mountain parks after a U.S.-based company bought the Jasper SkyTram.
Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality announced Jan. 2, 2025, that it had completed the $23.7-million acquisition of the tram at Whistlers Mountain. It had previously been owned by the same company that runs the Marmot Basin ski resort.
The Competition Bureau launched an investigation in late 2024 after private business operators raised concerns about the acquisition by the company, then known as Viad Corp. In April, the bureau determined there were no issues warranting further steps.
Keldon Bester, the executive director of the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project, said Pursuit’s ownership of private attractions in national parks raises concerns about a lack of competition in the Rocky Mountain region. It released a report in December asking the federal government to reverse the company’s previous acquisitions to “break Pursuit’s monopoly grip on Banff and Jasper.”
“Canadians are familiar in a number of contexts what happens — whether as consumers, workers or entrepreneurs — when we have limited options, when we depend on a single supplier,” said Bester.
Pursuit operates hotels, attractions, restaurants and lodges around the world.
In the Banff, Jasper and Waterton Lakes national parks, it owns 11 hotels and operates numerous private attractions including the Banff Gondola, the Columbia Icefield Adventure and cruises on Maligne and Minnewanka lakes.
Stuart Back, chief operating officer of Pursuit’s Banff Jasper Collection, said the company plays an active role in the communities it works in and has strong relationships with local businesses.
Over the past decade, the company has created 1,200 jobs in Alberta, reinvested its Canadian profits into local operations and raised $3 million for Jasper wildfire relief, the company said in a statement to CBC.
“If you’re invested for the long term as we are, then these things are just fundamentally what you do,” said Back in an interview with CBC.
Bester said Pursuit’s attractions can improve the experience for people with accessibility needs who are unable to participate in free activities at a park — but it comes at a higher cost.
“When you combine that with how Pursuit talks about its own business — high barriers to entry, pricing power — that’s when folks like us tend to get interested,” said Bester.
Though the bureau found no competition-related concerns in its review, Bester said consumers should be concerned, noting that monopolies can breed higher costs for consumers despite lower quality and innovation.
Bester also called on Parks Canada to better promote competition whenever private operators work in the parks.
“What we’ve learned over the past decades is that just because the Competition Bureau doesn’t intervene in something, doesn’t mean there isn’t cause for concern.”
