Viad Corp Profile
Viad Corp operates as a provider of extraordinary experiences.
Segments
The company operates through three business segments: Pursuit, Spiro, and GES Exhibitions.
During the first quarter of 2022, the company rebranded GES’ brand experiences business and introduced Spiro to the market to accelerate its growth by servicing the changing needs of brand marketers across a broader spectrum of their experiential marketing needs. Spiro and GES Exhibitions are both live event businesses and are collectively referred to as GES.
Pursuit is a collection of inspiring and unforgettable travel experiences that includes recreational attractions, unique hotels and lodges, food and beverage, retail, sightseeing, and ground transportation services.
Spiro is an experiential marketing agency that partners with leading brands around the world to manage and elevate their global experiential marketing activities.
GES Exhibitions is a global exhibition services company that partners with leading exhibition and conference organizers as a full-service provider of strategic and logistics solutions to manage the complexity of their shows.
Pursuit is a global attractions and hospitality company that owns and operates a collection of inspiring and unforgettable travel experiences in iconic destinations. From world-class attractions, distinctive hotels, and engaging tours in stunning national parks and renowned global travel locations, Pursuit’s elevated attraction and hospitality experiences enable visitors to discover and connect with these iconic destinations. With a strategic direction to build an expanding portfolio of extraordinary experiences, Pursuit remains focused on refreshing, improving, and growing its collection in outstanding places around the globe. Pursuit draws its guests from major markets, including the United States, Canada, China, the United Kingdom, Australia/New Zealand, the Asia Pacific, and Europe. Pursuit markets directly to consumers, as well as through distribution channels that include tour operators, tour wholesalers, destination management companies, and retail travel agencies. Pursuit comprises the following:
Banff Jasper Collection
The Banff Jasper Collection provides experiential travel experiences in the Canadian Rockies. Featuring lake cruises in Banff and Jasper National Parks, top-of-the-mountain views at the Banff Gondola, glacier exploration at the toe of the Columbia Icefield, the Glacier Skywalk and the Golden SkyBridge spanning over deep canyons, the collection offers visitors unique hotel experiences, attractions, culinary destinations, and retail offerings. The collection is also complemented by a sightseeing tour and transportation portfolio.
Alaska Collection
The Alaska Collection offers wilderness tours, whale watching, and glacier cruises complemented by unique lodging experiences in Denali and Kenai Fjords National Parks. From the port town of Seward, to the mountain town of Talkeetna, to the end of the road in Denali National Park, Pursuit offers a collection of unique attractions and hotels, complemented by culinary and retail services.
Glacier Park Collection
Located in and around Glacier and Waterton Lakes National Parks, the Glacier Park Collection features lodging, culinary and retail experiences, and attractions designed to enable guests to experience both Montana and Southern Alberta’s stunning outdoors. In 2022, the company acquired the Glacier Raft Company, which provides guided river rafting trips operating in West Glacier, Montana.
FlyOver Attractions
Pursuit’s FlyOver flight ride attractions provide guests with an exhilarating flying experience over iconic natural wonders, hard to reach locations, and picturesque scenery. Utilizing state-of-the-art ride and audio-visual technology, each FlyOver experience features moving ride vehicles with six degrees of motion, multi-sensory special effects, and a spherical screen that provides guests with a flight across stunning landscapes.
Sky Lagoon
Pursuit’s Sky Lagoon is an oceanfront geothermal lagoon located in Reykjavik, Iceland. It features an ocean-side infinity-edge in addition to cold pool and sauna experiences. It also features an in-lagoon bar, dining experiences and retail offerings.
Pursuit’s collection of experiences focuses on four distinct lines of business: Attractions (including food and beverage services and retail operations); Hospitality (including food and beverage services and retail operations); Transportation; and Travel planning.
Banff Jasper Collection
Banff Gondola transports visitors to an elevation of over 7,000 feet above sea level to the top of Sulphur Mountain in Banff, Alberta, Canada offering an unobstructed view of the Canadian Rockies and overlooking the town of Banff and the Bow Valley. The Banff Gondola was a 2022 Trip Advisor Travelers Choice award winner and the Sky Bistro restaurant, which is located at the top of the Banff Gondola, is currently #2 of 115 restaurants in Banff on Trip Advisor.
Lake Minnewanka Cruise provides guests a unique sightseeing experience through interpretive boat cruises on Lake Minnewanka in the Canadian Rockies. The Lake Minnewanka Cruise operations are located adjacent to the town of Banff and include boat tours, small boat rentals, and charter fishing expeditions. The Lake Minnewanka Cruise was a 2022 Trip Advisor Travelers Choice award winner.
Glacier Adventure is a tour of the Athabasca Glacier on the Columbia Icefield, and provides guests a view of one of the largest accumulations of ice and snow south of the Arctic Circle. Guests ride in a giant Ice Explorer, a unique vehicle specially designed for glacier travel.
Columbia Icefield Skywalk is a 1,312-foot guided interpretive walkway with a 98-foot glass-floored observation area overlooking the Sunwapta Valley, near the company’s Glacier Adventure attraction in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada.
Maligne Lake Cruise provides interpretive boat tours at Maligne Lake, the largest lake in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. In addition to boat tours, Maligne Lake has a marina and day lodge that offers food and beverage and retail services, an historic chalet complex and boat house that offers canoes, kayaks, and rowboats for rental.
Golden Skybridge is located in the mountain town of Golden, British Columbia, which is 90 minutes from Banff. It consists of two suspension bridges that are connected through forested trails. The upper skybridge is 426 feet above the canyon floor while the lower skybridge is 262 feet above the canyon floor. The attraction also includes a zip line and a canyon challenge course. The company completed the construction of a mountain coaster, which will open during the summer of 2023.
Open Top Touring is a guided sightseeing tour of Banff with a historic twist. Guests ride in a custom-made, open-topped automobile inspired by local tours from the 1930s.
Alaska Collection
Kenai Fjords Tours is the #1 Alaska wildlife and glacier cruise, offering guests unforgettable sights of towering glaciers, humpback and grey whales, orcas, arctic birdlife, sea lions, seals, and porpoises in Kenai Fjords National Park. Tours range from a few hours to full days, with some tours including a full meal of wild Alaskan salmon, prime rib, and Alaskan King Crab on Fox Island. Kenai Fjords Tours was a 2022 Trip Advisor Travelers Choice award winner.
Sky Lagoon
Sky Lagoon is a 230-foot premium oceanfront geothermal lagoon that is located in Kársnes Harbour, Kópavogur, just minutes from Reykjavik. Sky Lagoon showcases expansive ocean vistas punctuated by awe-inspiring sunsets, Northern Lights, and dark sky views. Sky Lagoon was a 2022 Trip Advisor Travelers Choice award winner.
Flyover Attractions
FlyOver flight ride attractions provide guests with an exhilarating flying experience over iconic natural wonders, hard to reach locations, and picturesque scenery. Utilizing state-of-the-art ride and audio-visual technology, each FlyOver experience features moving ride vehicles with six degrees of motion and multi-sensory special effects before a spherical screen.
FlyOver Canada is located along Vancouver’s waterfront in the heart of downtown.
FlyOver Iceland is located in Reykjavik’s Grandi Harbour District.
FlyOver Las Vegas is located on Las Vegas Boulevard in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The company has two additional locations in planning or development, FlyOver Chicago, located near the front entrance of Chicago’s Navy Pier, is expected to open during 2024; and FlyOver Canada Toronto, located at the base of the CN Tower in Toronto’s Entertainment District. The opening of this attraction was originally planned for 2024, however, it has been postponed due to permitting and other related delays.
Glacier Park Collection
Glacier Raft Company is Pursuit's newest attraction, which provides guided river rafting trips in West Glacier, Montana. The Glacier Raft Company also owns 13 log cabins, a lodge, and a wedding venue located on 50 acres with views into Glacier National Park.
Banff Jasper Collection
Transportation operations include sightseeing tours, airport shuttle services, and seasonal charter motorcoach services. The sightseeing services include seasonal half- and full-day tours from Calgary, Banff, Lake Louise, and Jasper, Canada and bring guests to the most scenic areas of Banff, Jasper, and Yoho National Parks. The charter business operates a fleet of luxury motorcoaches, available for groups of any size, for travel throughout the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia during the winter months.
Alaska Collection
Transportation includes a Denali Backcountry Adventure, which is a unique photo safari tour 92 miles deep into Denali National Park.
Banff Jasper Collection
Travel planning services include a full suite of corporate and event management services for meetings, conferences, incentive travel, sports, and special events. Event-related service offerings include staffing, off-site events, tours/activities, team building, accommodations, event management, theme development, production, and audio-visual services. The Banff Jasper Collection also owns and operates eight Pursuit Adventure Centers, which help guests book their leisure activities in Banff and Jasper National Parks.
Alaska Collection
Travel planning services provide complete travel planning services throughout Alaska.
Pursuit Seasonality
Pursuit’s peak activity occurs during the summer months. During 2022, 81% of Pursuit’s revenue was earned in the second and third quarters (year ended December 31, 2022).
Pursuit Growth Strategy
Pursuit’s growth strategy is to become a leading attractions hospitality company through its Refresh, Build, Buy initiatives.
Refresh: Refreshing the company’s existing assets and processes to optimize the guest and team member experience, market position, and maximize returns;
Build: Building new assets to create new guest experiences and additional revenue streams with economies of scale and scope; and
Buy: Buying strategic assets that drive guest experience, economies of scale and scope, and improve financial performance.
The company continues to search for opportunities to acquire or to build high return tourism assets in iconic natural and cultural destinations that enjoy perennial demand, bring meaningful scale and market share, and offer cross-selling advantages with a combination of attractions and hotels.
Recent Pursuit Developments
On April 6, 2022, the company acquired the Glacier Raft Company, which provides guided river rafting trips operating in Pursuit’s West Glacier, Montana operations. The Glacier Raft Company also owns 13 log cabins, a lodge, and a wedding venue located on 50 acres with views into Glacier National Park.
The construction of the Forest Park Alpine, a new 88-room hotel in Jasper, was completed and opened in August 2022.
The company has two additional locations in planning or development:
FlyOver Chicago, located near the front entrance of Chicago’s Navy Pier, is expected to open during 2024.
FlyOver Canada Toronto, located at the base of the CN Tower in Toronto’s Entertainment District. The opening of this attraction was originally planned for 2024, however, it has been postponed due to permitting and other related delays.
GES is a global, full-service live events company offering a comprehensive range of services to the world’s leading brands and event organizers from the design and production of compelling, immersive live and digital experiences that engage audiences and build brand awareness, through to logistics, including material handling, rigging, electrical, and other on-site event services.
GES has a leading position in the United States, serving every major exhibition market, including Las Vegas, Chicago, and Orlando. Additionally, GES produces events at many of the most active and popular international event destinations and venues in the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and the Netherlands.
Spiro
Spiro is an experiential marketing agency that partners with leading brands around the world to manage and elevate their global experiential marketing activities. Spiro builds immersive experiences with its clients starting with the strategic plan, creating the content and design, and finishing with the delivery and execution. Spiro delivers a broad range of unique and impactful experiences for its clients, including meetings and events, exhibition and program management, environments and permanent installations, brand and product activations, and marketing and measurement.
GES Exhibitions
GES Exhibitions is a global exhibition services company with a legacy spanning over 90 years and teams throughout North America, Europe, and the Middle East. GES Exhibitions partners with leading exhibition and conference organizers as a full-service provider of strategic and logistics solutions to manage the complexity of their shows, including strategy, creative and design, registration & engagement, accommodations, logistics & management, material handling, overhead sign hanging, graphics and other rental and labor services. GES Exhibitions also serves as an in-house or preferred provider of electrical and other event services within event venues, including convention centers and conference hotels.
Recent GES Developments
During the first quarter of 2022, the company rebranded GES’ brand experiences business and introduced Spiro to the market to accelerate its growth by servicing the changing needs of today’s brand marketers across a broader spectrum of their experiential marketing needs.
On December 15, 2022, the company completed the sale of the assets of ON Services – AV Specialists, Inc. (ON Services).
Intellectual Property
The company owns or has the right to use numerous trademarks and patents in many countries. The company’s United States issued utility patents extend for 20 years from the patent application filing date, and its United States issued design patents are granted for 14 years from the grant date. The company also has an extensive design library.
Trademarks
The company’s United States registered trademarks and trademarks pending registration include Global Experience Specialists & design, Spiro, GES, GES Servicenter, GES National Servicenter, GES Measurement & Insight, GES Project Central,, We’re There, Trade Show Rigging TSR, TSE Trade Show Electrical & design, Earth Explorers, Compass Direct, ethnoMetrics, eXPRESSO, FIT, FLYOVER & design, FLYOVER Canada & design, FLYOVER Iceland & design, eco-sense, ONPEAK, Above Banff, by Pursuit, Kenai Fjords Tours & design, Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge & design, Seward Windong Lodge & design, Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, Explore Rockies, Denali Backcountry Adventure, Denali Backcountry Lodge, and Denali Cabins & design.
The company also owns or has the right to use many registered trademarks and trademarks pending registration outside of the United States, including GES, Spiro, ShowTech, Poken, Visit, Visit by GES, Brewster Inc. & design, Brewster Attractions Explore & design, Brewster Hospitality Refresh & design, Glacier Skywalk, Above Banff, Explore Rockies, FLYOVER & design, FLYOVER ICELAND & design, FLYOVER Canada & design, Mount Royal, GES Event Intelligence AG, Pursuit, by Pursuit, Kaffi Grandi, Ský Lagoon, Soaring Over Canada, Elk + Avenue Hotel, Brewster Epic Summer Pass, and escape.connect.refresh.explore.
Government Regulation and Compliance
The principal rules and regulations affecting the company’s day-to-day business relate to its employees (such as regulations implemented by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, equal employment opportunity laws, guidelines implemented pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act, and general federal and state employment laws), unionized labor (such as guidelines imposed by the National Labor Relations Act), United States and Canadian regulations relating to national parks (such as regulations established by Parks Canada, the United States Department of the Interior, and the United States National Park Service), United States and Canadian regulations relating to boating (such as regulations implemented by the United States Coast Guard and Canadian Coast Guard and state boating laws), and transportation (such as regulations promulgated by the United States Department of Transportation and its state counterparts).
History
Viad Corp was founded in 1926. The company was incorporated in Delaware in 1991.
