British Columbia

$30M investment in upgrades planned for Sun Peaks Resort

Sun Peaks Resort is planning to spend $30 million on upgrading its facilities to keep up with increasing visitor numbers.

Improvements to be made to chairlifts and accommodation increased

Sun Peaks Resort saw 400,000 unique visitors to the community last winter, and, at times, has struggled to have enough beds for everyone. (Jenifer Norwell/CBC)

Sun Peaks Resort is planning to spend $30 million on upgrading and improving chairlifts, as well as increasing the number of beds and adding more food and beverage options to the resort.

"The growth in the last three years in our business has made it very reasonable that we add to our facilities," said Darcy Alexander, vice president and general manager of Sun Peaks Resort.

Sun Peaks has seen record-breaking numbers lately: last winter there were 400,000 unique visitors to the resort. The summer of 2017 saw 200,000.

"We have a lot of periods where we are short of beds," Alexander said. "There's more people moving to Sun Peaks to live, and that number has doubled in the last three years. We'd like to build about 1,000 new beds over the next few years, as a minimum.

In terms of units, that's about 300 units for 1,000 beds."

'Marketplace growth' is the main reason behind the planned $30 million investment to facility upgrades at Sun Peaks Resort. (Jenifer Norwell/CBC)

The resort has already spent about five million dollars on upgrades over the past two years, according to Alexander. This past summer $3.5 million was spent on skier service facilities, including food and retail options in the village. The resort has also worked with the community to build a new health centre, where the community's first full-time doctor will work.

"We see growth in the marketplace," Alexander said. "We also have a permit that allows us to grow in our master plan."

With files from Daybreak Kamloops