Steam & Excursion > Xanterra losing Grand Canyon contract- impact on GCRY?

Greetings-

I note on Yahoo News this morning a story saying Xanterra Parks & Recreation's contract to operate the various tourist facilities along the south rim of the Grand Canyon is ending on 31 December and cannot be renewed, and so far the National Park Service has been unable to attract anyone to submit bids for the next 15 years. Xanterra and the NPS are also apparently in court right now over various issues surrounding contract negotiations.

Link to the article:

http://news.yahoo.com/grand-canyon-contract-offer-fails-attract-bids-211149378.html

This raises the question...should Xanterra no longer be operating the south rim facilities past the end of this year, what impact- if any- will this have on the Grand Canyon Railway? Is there enough money in the railroad, the Williams facilities, and whatever other interests they have outside the park boundaries for them to remain invested in the operation, or once they are done with the Canyon will they be looking for a way out?

Just curious...

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

Just to clarify the situation. Xanterra was the winner bid on the last concession contract (15 year I believe, but I am not sure). That contract was coming due so the National Park Service (NPS) advertised for new bids. The entire process was messed up from the beginning. Xanterra claims the new proposal was unfair (they believe any newcomer has an advantage over them). The existing contract cannot be extended beyond 12/31/2014 either because of some federal rule (possibly the existing contract has been extended the maximum number already). Since Xanterra is suing the NPS over the new proposal, it made EVERYBODY afraid of bidding (a winner would have to expend a lot of cash to startup and could then lose the contract). So nobody bid and the existing contract cannot be extended, so the NPS will have to sign a temporary contract with somebody, million to one it will be Xanterra, then makeup a new proposal from scratch.

My money is in the end, the new contract proposal will be rewritten, Xanterra will bid and win and life at the Grand Canyon will continue as normal. Even if Xanterra loses every concession at the Grand Canyon, the railroad itself is a separate and money making concern, it will be just fine. Xanterra is not a stupid company, if they decide to completely leave the Grand Canyon market, they will sell the railroad immediately, they will not risk this "investment" losing value because the let it let and wither.

I have not been happy with the way they ran hotels in national parks so would love to see a change.

We stayed at Grand Canyon and Lake Powell last year on a UC Alumni tour of the parks etc---Xanterra farmed their food concessions to Aramark (the Walmart of major catering, prison, college dorms etc) and they even managed to ruin a bowl of supposedly fresh fruit; The Monterey Bay Aquarium contracted with Aramark for their food service for 10 years and it was a disaster as far as I was concerned and they just terminated the contract after 4 years. Not surprised. That may figure into Xanterras current issues.
C.

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA