CIRI Alaska Tourism Inc. a Splashing Success.

Cook Inlet Region Inc. began its tourism investments in 1997 and has since dedicated $100 million to Alaska tourism over a five-year period.

When compared to Cook Inlet Region Inc.'s overall revenue of $300 million last year, CIRI Alaska Tourism Inc.'s projected earnings of $15 million sounds like spare change. Yet, CIRI considers the hospitality and travel industry an integral part of its portfolio.

CIRI has diversified nationwide investments in tourism, real estate, communications, construction services, equipment distribution and natural resources, explained Dennis Brandon, president of CIRI Alaska Tourism Inc. "CIRI Alaska Tourism is a part of this diversification strategy."

Within the tourism component itself, operations run the gamut from glacier tours to an urban RV Park. In peak season, CIRI's tourism business employs over 400 people in jobs that range from navigating Prince William Sound and Kenai Fjords National Park to coordinating naturalist presentations, cooking salmon for hundreds of hungry sightseers and pouring Alaskan-made beers.

Specifically, CIRI Alaska Tourism includes Kenai Fjords Tours, Prince William Sound Cruises and Tours, the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, the Seward Windsong Lodge, the Anchorage RV Park and Alaska Heritage Tours, the latter the tour packaging arm of the business.

Though each of these entities stands alone, they also fit into a convenient unit that spans strategic travel areas from Seward to Denali National Park. Right now, CIRI owns lodging facilities at Seward, Fox Island, Grower Island, Talkeetna and Denali National Park, and tour boat services at Kenai Fjords National Park and Prince William Sound.

From the standpoint of creature comforts and atmosphere, the sites cover the gamut from the towering 45-foot river stone fireplace in the foyer of the Talkeetna lodge to the rustic cabins stocked with sleeping bags and marine-type incinerator toilets at Growler Island Wilderness Camp in Prince William Sound.

When building a breadth of services and facilities like these, CIRI strives to provide educational and active tour experiences that expose travelers to Native Alaskan culture and the state's natural resources, according to Brandon.

"The new visitor wants a real experience, which includes these components," he added. "We aim to fulfill that need."

Not surprisingly, this objective requires a presence in the most popular and accessible travel destinations in the state.

"Our major growth areas for tourism involve Alaska's national parks, including Kenai Fjords National Park, WrangellSt. Elias and Denali National Park and other spectacular Alaska destinations including Prince William Sound and the Kenai Peninsula," wrote Brandon.

Over the last four years, CIRI has invested heavily in all aspects of the industry. They made their first move into the hospitality business in 1997 by opening the Anchorage RV Park, a thickly wooded area with 195 full hookups just across from the Alaska Native Heritage Center, which is located off the Glenn Highway near Muldoon Road.

That same year, CIRI purchased Kenai Fjords Tours and Stan Stephens Cruises, now known as Prince William Sound Cruises and Tours. A few years later, the corporation created Alaska Heritage Tours, completed construction of the Talkeetna Lodge and bought the Seward Windsong Lodge.

"CIRI is committed in the tune of $100 million to CIRI Alaska Tourism over a five-year period which began in 1997," Brandon noted.

That commitment has led to improvements at CIRI's properties in Talkeetna and Seward. The project in Talkeetna will double the number of rooms at the lodge to 198 and enlarge the great room, restaurant and available meeting area. Down in Seward, they started adding 36 rooms to boost the lodge's capacity to 108. Both expansions should be complete by 2001.

More telling still, CIRI Alaska Tourism is assessing the feasibility of bidding on the Denali National Park concession in a joint venture with Doyon Ltd., another Native corporation with an eye to the tourism industry.

"We are also looking at building a lodge in the area again, in partnership with Doyon," wrote Brandon.

Though other companies provide lodging and services in places like Denali and Seward, Brandon believes CIRI has an advantage.

"CIRI Alaska Tourism is Alaskanowned and -operated and we see this as a huge benefit over our competition as we not only know Alaska, but also we are part of Alaska."

With that in mind, CIRI will continue to develop soft adventure itineraries that involve kayaking, remote lodging and various activities that give travelers a more visceral Alaska experience, said Vicki Malone, director of sales and marketing for CIRI Alaska Tourism.

Already, Heritage Tours promotes multi-day tours with CIRI Tourism's products, as well as activities and services provided by other companies. Packages include everything from multiday kayaking trips and day-long riverboat excursions to whale watching cruises, bus tours, train transportation, sightseeing flights and accommodations.

With lodges on a well-worn circuit and connections with other operators, the company arranges trips that take visitors on expansive loops that expose them to greater parts of the state, said Malone.

In one of the advertised self-drive tours, travelers can head from Anchorage to Seward by car, from Whittier to Valdez by boat, and then from Valdez to Denali, Talkeetna and back to Anchorage at their own pace. Other packages include all-rail transportation or a mixed bag of coach, rail, boat and air travel.

For people who want Alaska's version of island paradise, CIRI runs a lodge on Fox Island, 14 miles south of Seward, and a camp on Grower Island, a dollop of land with a view of the Columbia Glacier just 45 miles from Valdez. CIRI owns Fox Island, but leases Growler from Chugach Alaska Corp. on a year-to-year basis.

At both locations, they serve a salmon buffet to tour boat passengers during lunch and dinner breaks, and offer a bundle of activities that includes kayaking, boat tours and overnight accommodations. They target these island stays to visitors who want a little something more than the standard Alaska vacation, said Malone.

"They're not profit centers," she said. "They're strictly a value-added thing for our customers."

Cash cow or not, every activity and service broadens CIRI's financial base and embraces its Alaskan roots. They're not alone in embracing this vision.

"Other Native corporations also see the value in tourism," wrote Brandon. "CIRI has taken the lead and is now looking at cooperative ventures with other Native corporations as is apparent with the announcement of a possible joint venture with Doyon."

CIRI Expands Operations in Las Vegas

Cook Inlet Region Inc. recently announced its intention to invest in the newest development at Lake Las Vegas Resort and join a group of partners, including the RitzCarlton Co., Transcontinental Properties Inc. and the interests of Sid and Lee Bass of Fort Worth, Texas. The group plans to develop and construct a 350-room RitzCarlton resort hotel as part of a Mediterranean-themed village, named the Village at MonteLago.

This will be CIRI's second investment at Lake Las Vegas Resort, a golf community surrounding Nevada's largest privately owned lake, which is located 17 miles from the famed Las Vegas Strip. In 1998, the corporation became a 50-percent investor in the Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas Resort, a resort hotel property that opened last December.

"Lake Las Vegas is an impressive resort development," said Carl Marrs, CIRI president and CEO. "This investment provides CIRI with another opportunity to partner with world-renowned tourism developers. With the constant tourism growth in the Las Vegas area, I see this as a long-term investment for CIRI and our shareholders."

Intrawest Corp., a publicly traded company with a track record of successfully developing and operating some of the world's top-rated, village-centered four-season resort destinations--such as Whistler/Blackcomb in British Columbia--will be developing The Village at MonteLago, a 50-acre development on the northwest end of the 320-acre lake. Within the village will be the 350-room luxury RitzCarlton hotel, a casino and luxury condominiums.

The commercial portion of The Village at MonteLago will be a signature Intrawest village including luxury condominium units, commercial space for retail boutiques, waterside restaurants and office space.

Construction of the village is scheduled to begin before the end of this year, and an opening date is anticipated for the third quarter of 2002.