A veteran tourism marketer who knows the Yukon says the bankrupt Great River Journey business remains viable.

Bill Pedlar of Knightly Tours in Seattle said this week companies that anchor their business proposal on river travel offer a unique experience, whether it's in the North or anywhere in the world.

Combine a high-end trip down the Yukon River with the allure of Gold Rush history and the cultural component of local First Nations and you have a winning package, said Pedlar, who has spent 35 years in tourism marketing and sales.

He began his career in the Yukon working for Holland America and over the decades has held executive marketing positions with both Holland American and Princess Tours.

As president of Knightly Tours, Pedlar became interested in Great River Journey's product last year. He indicated he had started initial discussions with Great River president George Asquith before Asquith began steps to seek court protection from creditors while he tried to prepare a suitable

restructuring proposal.

Pedlar said even after the court process began, he helped Asquith look for the $2 million-plus in new investment required to save the company.

Knightly Tours, he pointed out, was willing to put $600,000 of its own time and money to take over the marketing and sales portfolio in exchange for a "piece of the action.”

And it would still be willing, Pedlar said.

Great River Journey unveiled its business proposal to sell high-end Yukon River tours at a gala event in February 2007, when it also announced its partnership with four local First Nations. The business revolved around three new wilderness lodges between Whitehorse and Dawson City with fancy

guest cabins, and plush riverboats worth $250,000 each to ferry the guests, who would be paying in excess of $1,000 a day.

Hit by the recession in mid-stride after it began an extensive sales campaign which included courtesy tours for marketing agents and retailers, Great River Journey filed for bankruptcy protection last April. It received three court-approved extensions to develop a restructuring plan but failed to come up

with one by the final Oct. 8 deadline.

While more than $10 million has been sunk into the business proposal, court documents indicate the assets, including the lodges, total $965,000.

A meeting of the secured and unsecured creditors is scheduled for Oct. 28 at the MacBride Museum.

Bankruptcy trustee George Abakhan said he expects the meeting will be short.

It's not likely there will be any attempt to put forward a restructuring proposal which would eventually see the creditors paid off, he explained this morning.

"That's what we tried to do for the last nine months.”

More likely, said Abakhan, Great River Journey will vanish, and the 76 unsecured creditors, many of them local businesses, will be left with the outstanding debt.

Also out of luck, said Abakhan, will be two of the three secured creditors; Asquith and his group of private investors who are owed $5.1 million; and the First Nation Investment Corp. representing the $1.1 million owed to the four First Nations.

The Business Development Bank of Canada is first in with its claim of $2.5 million to capture anything that might come from the sale of the $1 million in assets, he said.

"And even they'll take a huge haircut.”

Abakhan said Asquith is still digging for investors to come up with the $2 million-plus to relaunch the business under a different entity because he believes in it, but whether Asquith is successful remains to be seen.

But it certainly will not go ahead under the current structure and debt load, he said.

If anything happens, said Abakhan, "it will be like a Phoenix rising out of ashes.”

It wouldn't be the first time a second group of investors comes along, picks up the pieces and makes a successful go of it, he said.

Abakhan said Grouse Mountain down in Vancouver is prime example. The original promoter spent $4 million or $5 million in the early 1980s but didn't succeed, he said, adding the party who picked up the assets for $1 million has made nothing but money since.

Pedlar said he has no idea what will happen at next week's meeting of creditors. It wouldn't be unheard of if somebody suddenly steps forward with the investment required to restructure and relaunch the business proposal, he said.

Pedlar said in his view the assets are more valuable as a whole than sold off individually.

"It is viable,” he said of the business model. "You also have to realize you have to have the patience to work it.

"It is not going to be a quick hit, but yeah, it is a viable product, a good product.”

In the tourism business, said Pedlar, it takes three or more years before companies really begin to see the fruits of their marketing strategies.

In the North, there's the additional challenge of the short summer season to work with, Pedlar said.

Pedlar said even with its challenges, the Yukon has much to offer.

"We knew this was going to take some time, but we were pretty excited about it.”

The 76 unsecured creditors are owed a total of $1.35 million, with individual debts ranging from $100 to $200,000.

As an unsecured creditor, Asquith is owed $193,373 he put on his credit card. And as one of the private investors who put up the $5.1 million, he's owed over $800,000.