DENVER, December 23, 2014 – Xanterra Parks & Resorts®, dba Xanterra South Rim L.L.C., reached an agreement with the National Park Service to continue to operate most concessions at the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park – just as it has for more than a century – under a temporary contract.
Xanterra’s current contract commenced in 2002 and is set to expire at the end of 2014. The contract was extended three times and, by law, cannot be extended again. The National Park Service issued three RFPs for bids to operate concessions at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, but no concessioner – including Xanterra – submitted a responsive bid.
“We are pleased to reach an agreement with the National Park Service to continue operating visitor facilities and services at the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park under a temporary contract. This will allow the hundreds of Xanterra employees to continue providing outstanding, uninterrupted hospitality to the millions of travelers who visit this national treasure each year,” said Andrew N. Todd, president and CEO of Xanterra Parks & Resorts®. “It is our hope that this temporary contract will allow the National Park Service time to go back to the drawing board and develop a more palatable concessions RFP because despite the fact that the contract generates more than $1 billion in revenue over the contract term the past RFPs have failed to allow the concessioner to generate a profit after paying fees to the National Park Service and funding capital expenditures in the park facilities.”
Xanterra’s Fred Harvey Company has operated concessions at the Grand Canyon since 1905, first in partnership with the Santa Fe Railway and later under a series of contracts with the National Park Service after Grand Canyon National Park was created in 1919. More than 300 structures accounting for much of the infrastructure in the historic Grand Canyon Village were developed by the Fred Harvey Company.
For more information about concessions at the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, visit www.grandcanyonlodges.com or call toll-free 1-888-297-2757 or 1-303-297-2757 from outside the United States. Information about Grand Canyon Railway and The Grand Hotel in Tusayan, AZ is available online as well.
