Rocky Mountaineer...Not Here

By Elaine Macdonald

                                          



Rocky Mountaineer Rail Tour Logo..... Prince George will only see the caboose!    

Much of Prince George is in a daze about  losing the tourism traffic from the Rocky Mountaineer Railtours Whistler to Jasper run, that will hit the rails in 2006.  

The powers that be for the railtour company, have chosen Quesnel as their stopover spot.  Quesnel Councillor Dalton Hooker says the  decision to have the train overnight in Quesnel  will be a "Godsend to  our community" . He recognizes tourism is very important to all B.C. communities,  and its estimated the Whislter-Jasper run will bring 5,000 people into Quesnel each year.

Although Quesnel has been hoping to land some sort of benefit from the sale of B.C. Rail, Hooker says landing the Rocky Mountaineer Railtour was totally unexpected.  "It was geography, pure and simple, Quesnel is half way between Whistler and Jasper, so it only made sense to have the train stop here".  

Quesnel faces some challenges in that it may be pressed to provide enough hotel rooms to handle the up to 240 people expected on each of three trains a week.  "We have several hotels" says Hooker and "we have a year to prepare, so we are up to the challenge."

Quesnel Mayor Nate Bello could not be reached for comment, he's on his way back from Newfoundland and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Conference.

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