Six months ago, his presentation before business leaders in the territory would have been very different, Northern Vision Development president Piers McDonald told those at the Partnering for Success economic summit held last week at the High Country Inn.

"Every element of our business is feeling the effect of something of an economic downturn," he said during a panel discussion Thursday afternoon.

He was joined by SKKY Hotel's Frank Calandra and Takhini Hot Springs president Garry Umbrich.

Northern Vision Development has a number of businesses in town, including the High Country Inn and Gold Rush Inn, among others.

With the panel focused on the economic realities in the territory, those attending the summit, hosted by the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce, heard that both the global economic crisis and the local scene are impacting business.

The last three or four years saw growing investor confidence in the territory on many levels - including that of first nation development corporations and those who have been involved in the community for many years - McDonald said.

"One manifestation of that, of course, is the building movement," he said, referring to the number of private buildings that have gone up independent of government projects.

"That's an encouraging signal and certainly for those of us who deal with investors who live outside the territory and who are only marginally connected and knowledgeable about the territory, Whitehorse or the North. We're seeing a greater interest in (investments here)," McDonald said.

In Northern Vision Development's case, the more successful ventures have come out of partnerships, including those with first nations, and joint ventures with local businesses.

"We've been very much sold on the idea that you can go farther faster when you have good, solid, useful business relationships with others," he said.

While businesses often connect at conferences such as the two-day economic summit, McDonald added, the more they can work together "doing business together," the more successful they will be.

"Working together makes for a better economic environment all round," he said.

Also necessary, he said, is the public infrastructure needed to do business, such as technology.

He pointed out it was thanks to technology that a part-time CFO Northern Vision Development had in Whitehorse also worked in the same role for a Montreal-based company.

"She works there full-time everyday out of her home here in Whitehorse," McDonald said. "She worked part-time for us, but it was one real example that I've seen of a person who can do business, who can do business anywhere and live here and that's one of the opportunities that good ... infrastructure will allow you."

Calandra was not so positive about the territory's business environment.

The owner of the SKKY Hotel, which sits across from the Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport on the Alaska Highway, recalled his experience after coming up to the territory in July 2007.

Finding what he described as a "magnificent setting", he decided to redevelop the hotel that sat on the property at that point.

Saying he wouldn't dwell on the matter, he simply stated the Yukon is not a friendly place for entrepreneurs, with the exception of some, such as those involved with the chamber of commerce.

In the right business climate, Calandra said, he and his investors might put more money into the Yukon. But without changes to the business climate here, he said, he will likely sell the other 24-hectare (61-acre) property he bought outside of town to develop as a high-end tourist resort.

"As we all know, capital is fluid, and there are investment opportunities all over the world," he said.

The Yukon, Calandra said, is a world-class destination that could be a mini-Whistler, B.C., and it hasn't even begun to attract "the type and numbers of tourists" that could be coming to the territory.

The weak Canadian dollar, Calandra argued, could help bring more international travellers here.

It was the growing luxury tourism market that made Calandra opt to cater to that market when he developed the SKKY Hotel, he said.

With the right attractions, natural beauty and infrastructure in place, the question now is whether the territory wants to take the opportunity to make it a world-class destination, he argued.

While Calandra brought his experience opening a new hotel, Umbrich has been upgrading one of the older commercial attractions in the territory.

"It's probably one of the few private ones, most of our attractions in the territory are government-funded. So it creates a unique challenge because on the one hand, you see everybody say, 'Wow, look at what at the hot springs could do,' and yet it just hasn't happened yet," Umbrich said.

While issues of ownership on the hot springs and other matters have been cleared up, the economic climate has now changed worldwide, he said.

"Things are not going to go back to the way they were," Umbrich said, stressing it's businesses that can position themselves in new and innovative ways that will come out of the economic slump in a better position.

"As a community, I think that would suggest that really the task here in communities like the Yukon is to figure out how to partner for success in a way that positions us in a better way coming out of this cycle," he said.

The summit wrapped up Friday afternoon.