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Whistler Resort Provides Financial Tools to Build
New Whistler-Blackcomb Gondola

Whistler's mayor and council provided Whistler-Blackcomb Mountains nearly $1-million in tax breaks this week to help the ski operator build one of the world's longest gondola lifts into the area's remote alpine region.

The municipality decided to forgo collecting $150,000 to $200,000 a year for the next five years from the company while it builds and markets a $51.4-million gondola lift that will connect Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain.

Whistler Mayor Ken Melamed said he was convinced by Whistler-Blackcomb's contention that the year-round gondola could boost occupancy rates 5 per cent once the 4.4-kilometre lift is up and running in 2008.

The deal with Whistler-Blackcomb will cost the municipality money in the short run, the mayor said, but will result in benefits in the long term through an increase in room-tax revenue the municipality pockets.

In addition to the $10.5-million in property taxes, the municipality receives $9-million a year from a 6-per-cent hotel room tax that is collected by the province and rebated to the town.

Based on the anticipated $600,000 annual increase in revenue from Whistler-Blackcomb's projected jump in occupancy rates at an average $200 a night, Mayor Melamed said "that brings a return on investment for the resort municipality of Whistler in a reasonably direct way."

Intrawest's chief operating officer, Dave Brownlie, said the municipalities financial investment will help ensure a good financial return on for Whistler-Blackcomb's parent companies, Intrawest and Fortress Investment Group.

The gondola terminals will be built adjacent to Whistler's Roundhouse and Blackcomb's Rendezvous restaurants. Four towers will span Fitzsimmons Creek and give 4,000 skiers and snowboarders access to the incredible alpine area, and should attract visitors from around the world, Mr. Brownlie said.

The price to ride in one of the 26 cabins, each of which holds 30 people, will be on top of the fees skiers pay to use the slopes. Once Whistler-Blackcomb receives the green light from its parent companies, construction on the peak-to-peak gondola could begin as early as May and will take approximately 18 months to complete.