Rocky Mountain High
10th January 2007
By MARK MACDONALD
Rocky Mountaineer Vacations (RMV) is riding the rails of success.
In 2006 — for the second year in a row — RMV, with a stop in Kamloops, won the World’s Leading Travel Experience by Train award at the World Travel Awards, the travel industry’s equivalent to the Oscars.
And RMV continues to steam ahead, placing 23rd in the Globe and Mail newspaper’s national survey of the 50 best employers in Canada in 2007.
Now the company offers what is widely considered one of the most spectacular train trips in the world while becoming one of the world’s top places to work, since the survey is recognized internationally.
Lee Morris, CEO of Tourism Kamloops, said she is not surprised to hear RMV, which employs 200 Kamloops residents in the height of the summer season, has been ranked among Canada’s top employers.
RMV is one of Kamloops’ major tourist attractions.
Every year, it brings about 85,000 visitors to the city and pours $15 million into the local economy.
“That’s very significant,” said Morris, adding the company also markets Kamloops internationally as a tourist destination when it showcases its scenic rail tours.
The RMV rail tour begins in Vancouver and winds through the Fraser Canyon to Kamloops, where passengers are treated to a dinner- heater performance by Two River Junction before bedding down in a local hotel.
Passengers then head north to Jasper or west to Banff and eventually Calgary. RMV also offers a tour from North Vancouver to Whistler.
Paul Dyck, RMV vice-president of human resources and corporate administration, said the survey measures employee engagement, passion and motivation.
“We recognize that we can’t be a best employer without highly talented employees,” he said.
“The passion and dedication to excellence that this survey recognizes is the same fundamental culture that drives our world-renowned guest service.”
Article taken from Kamloops This Week.
