With fanfare and jubilance, details of a new multimillion-dollar, a Yukon River tourism business was unveiled Wednesday at the Yukon Transportation Museum.

With about $5 million already invested, and another $2.5 million or so budgeted for spending this year, Great River Journey is expected to begin pilot tours this summer at a rate well below the $800 to $1,200 it will be charging customers beginning next year.

The eight-day river excursion begins in Whitehorse at the train station and ends in Dawson City. The package is targeted to well-off couples and singles looking for a world-class wilderness experience while lodging in first-class accommodations.

'This is the first really, really upscale product that can deliver large numbers of people to the Yukon,' Whitehorse hotelier Barry Bellchambers told the crowd gathered for yesterday's unveiling.

He said there are a handful of Yukon wilderness lodges that offer the same high-end experience though they don't bring in the numbers that Great River Journey is anticipating.

The business is owned by a mixture of private-sector investors and four Yukon first nations which are tied to the Yukon River not only geographically but traditionally and culturally.

In the five of six years that tourism investor George Asquith has been working on the business proposal, private investors have spent $3.4 million.

The four first nations the Kwanlin Dun First Nation of Whitehorse, the Ta'an Kwach'an Council of Lake Laberge, the Selkirk First Nation and the Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation of Dawson City have each invested $500,000 under a consortium known as FNIC Development Corp.

The federal government has committed a further $1.75 million in economic development funding, and the Yukon government has provided $500,000 through its Department of Economic Development.

Guests were told the business could generate $5 million in revenue for the first nations in the next five years alone.

But Tourism Minister Elaine Taylor admitted to the audience when Asquith first told of his idea four years ago, she was somewhat skepitcal.

From what she sees now, and with her recent trip to the lodge facility on Lake Lake Laberge, she is no longer.

'I am very confident this will be a success story,' she said. 'It will put the Yukon on the map.'

Several dignitaries from the first nation governments, the Yukon and federal governments, took turns yesterday evening expressing their support for the business venture.

It is a natural fit for the first nations which want to ensure minimal impact while sharing the wonders of their traditional territories and their cultures, and generating economic opportunities at the same time.

'When the Tr'ondek first got wind of this particular venture, we were quite excited,' Chief Darren Taylor of the Tr'ondek Hwech'in told the large number of guests attending yesterday's launch.

Taylor said the opportunities to expand the business plan in the future are plentiful, given the inventory of historic sites that could turn into additional attractions for visitors.

It is indeed significant that the anchor for the Great River Journey is the Yukon River, Taylor said.

'This was our highway,' Taylor said of the traditional use of the Yukon by first nations. 'This is where we had our camps.'

'We are identified as Han people; meaning people of the river,' the chief said. 'It was unique for us to be part of this initiative because we have direct ties to the river.'

Kwanlin Dun Coun. Bill Webber said the chief and council of the Whitehorse first nation also became excited about the business plan when they reviewed it, and set upon conducting a thorough review of the proposal.

'We really became comfortable with it, that it was a sound business plan. We really became excited about it because it was a destination kind of product,' Webber told the gathering.

'We are really excited about that and we are proud of this investment.'

Under the proposal, Great River Journey will take a riverboat of 10 guests from Whitehorse to the south end of Lake Laberge, and the site of the former Ta'an village where they will spend two days. From there, they will travel by boat to The Thirty Mile site along of the Yukon River, a historically significant area for river travel, particularly in the days of the paddlewheeler.

Guests will be flown by float plane to the Homestead Lodge, on the Pelly Farm property along the Pelly River, up river from the confluence of the Pelly and Yukon rivers and Fort Selkirk.

From there they will travel down river by boat to a wilderness outpost, before moving on by boat to Dawson City.

Work on developing the exclusive tour package and business plan began four or five years ago under the initiative of Asquith, a former Whitehorse lawyer turned tourism entrepreneur.

Asquith left Whitehorse 15 years ago to develop an underwater submarine tourism business in the Caribbean, along with Bellchambers. The business, he explained in an interview this morning, has grown significantly.

Asquith said when he returned in 2000, there were a number of options he was looking at when considering a tourism-related venture for the Yukon.

He first approached Ta'an Chief Ruth Massie several years ago in her capacity as director of the first nation's economic development arm.

And over the next few years, the plan took shape.

Land tenure was provided for each of the camp sites by securing land already privatized.

Last year, construction of the individual guest cabins and main lodges, began with an eye toward capturing the renaissance of each site and traditional territory.

All of the lodges and 10 guest cabins at each site are currently at least clad to weather, or better.

Sewage systems have been professionally designed and approved.

Asquith explained Great River Journey expects to begin its 'patron tours' this summer, at a cost of about $3,000 each, or approximately a third of the $8,000 to $9,000 regular package.

They're hoping, he said, to have anywhere between 200 and 250 guests this summer.

The target market is still the upper-end tourism client, as well as tourism promoters who will be invited to see first hand what the business will be offering in coming years, he said.

Asquith said it will also be an opportunity to work out any kinks and refine the package for its guests.

The business plan calls for the creation of 30 to 40 full-time and seasonal jobs by the end of year five.

While the company is expecting to develop the business on a casual basis, it is targeting year-four to have daily departures from Whitehorse, Asquith said.

He said it's hoped that when it's fully operational, Yukon River Journey will be hosting anywhere from 700 to 800 guest in its 100-day season from the beginning of June to mid-September.

Asquith, like others Wednesday evening, spoke with passion and excitement about the project.

But they also cautioned that while the business plan is well underway, there is still some way to go, which will require the continued support of the different governments involved, particularly in advertising and marketing the product.

It is, by all indicators, a sound, viable and exciting tourism venture, Asquith said.

He said having the first nations as partners was not only essential from a business perspective, but having them as partners has only strengthened the product immensely.

'This is really a vision that begins with our goal of sharing with them this wonderful place �- the most wonderful place on Earth.'