Who’ll run the boats?

OPEN BIDDING: At least two groups say they’ll compete with Maid of the Mist to run river tours

Posted By COREY LAROCQUE REVIEW STAFF WRITER

Two companies whose interest in running Niagara River boat tours triggered a competition that could displace the historic Maid of the Mist boat tour say they’re on board with the new direction Ontario’s Liberals charted Wednesday.

Ontario Tourism Minister Monique Smith announced the Niagara Parks Commission will seek bidders to lease the property needed to run boat tours on the Canadian side of the Niagara River.

Her Liberal government is trying to demonstrate its commitment to openness, while still smarting from a summer scandal about millions of dollars in untendered contracts at eHealth.

Representatives from Ripley’s Entertainment and Alcatraz Media said Thursday they are each serious about putting together proposals.

“I’m unequivocally telling you I’m going to bid,” said Bill Windsor, a representative of Atlanta, Ga.-based Alcatraz Media, a company that brokers tickets to various tourist attractions over the Internet.

He sent an email in 2005 to the Niagara Parks Commission asking how to get the rights to run tours on the Niagara River.

“I’ve taken the position all along, I want a bid and I want to get that bid.

“But I want to make sure everybody has a chance.”

In 2008, Ripley’s also asked when the Maid of the Mist’s lease on parks commission property expired.

“We’ll sit back. We’ll wait to see what the bid package is and what the process is going to be,” said Tim Parker, manager at Ripley’s, which owns Great Wolf Lodge and Clifton Hill attractions.

Presumably, the existing tour provider Maid of the Mist Steamboat Co., would also bid on the lease. Maid of the Mist officials issued a statement Wednesday vowing to take “whatever actions are necessary” to protect its position as the provider of boat tours.

“All options will be under consideration,” the company’s statement said.

Marketing vice-president Tim Ruddy wrote in an email his company had nothing to add to the statement it issued Wednesday.

When former parks commissioner Bob Gale learned in early 2008 Ripley’s and Alcatraz had been rebuffed by Niagara Parks management, he filed a formal complaint. That led to Smith’s decision to invite bids from companies interested in running boat tours on the Niagara River.

Windsor predicted dozens of companies might submit bids to take over the tour service.

The Maid of the Mist boats are considered Niagara’s oldest tourist attraction. Under various owners, they have operated since the mid-1800s.

Both Parker and Gale said they doubt the existing Niagara Parks Commission can be fair, considering it voted twice -in April 2008 and September 2009 -to extend the Maid of the Mist’s lease.

Chairman Jim Williams has said publicly commissioners believed an extension of the Maid of the Mist lease was the “best business case” they could have submitted to the government.

Parker agreed someone other than parks commissioners should oversee the bidding, to ensure new companies are given the same consideration as the established Maid of the Mist.

“In the best interest of everybody, including the Steamboat company, including Ripley’s, including Alcatraz, it has to be a third party,” Parker said.

The government might have a “fairness commissioner” work with the parks commission to alleviate those concerns, Smith said.

Smith said she wants the bidding completed by spring 2010. If Maid of the Mist won the contract, it would carry on like normal. If a new company won the right to run tours, it would be “realistic” for it to get in place for 2011, Parker said. The current lease allows for Maid of the Mist to continue on a monthly basis in the event of a termination of its lease.