One of Canada’s biggest pension funds bought a luxury resort in the Rocky Mountains as tourism’s recovery continues to defy predictions of an economic slowdown.

Oxford Properties, the real estate arm of the pension representing municipal workers in Ontario, has purchased the Rimrock Resort Hotel in Canada’s Banff National Park, according to a statement seen by Bloomberg News.

The firm is paying $170 million (US$128 million) for the property, said a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified citing private information. An Oxford spokesperson declined to comment on the price.

After grinding to a near halt during the COVID-19 pandemic, global tourism has rebounded as consumers prove eager to spend savings on long-delayed experiences and travel. That pent-up demand has so far helped many owners weather historic increases in interest rates over the past year by central banks trying to tamp down inflation. 

Many forecasters had expected the surge in borrowing costs to throw the global economy into a recession, and some still see that as a possibility as signs emerge that growth may be starting to slow.  


“We’re a longer-term investor,” Tyler MacDonald, Oxford’s head of hotels, said in a phone interview on the timing of the Rimrock purchase. “If you look at global travel, it has grown consistently for almost 75 years and we just believe deeply that’s going to continue.”

Built on a site that has hosted visitors to the nearby hot springs since 1895, Rimrock is perched on the tree-lined slopes of Sulphur Mountain in Banff, about a 90-minute drive west of Calgary. The park is one of Canada’s main tourist destinations, known for world-class skiing and snowboarding in winter as well as golf, hiking and cycling in the warmer months, with views of snow-covered peaks and pristine mountain lakes year-round.

Oxford said it plans to spend as much as $100 million renovating the resort, which will be operated by French hospitality group Accor SA. 

“We have high conviction in this particular lodging market, which is Banff,” said MacDonald. “It has extremely high barriers to entry, it doesn’t have many significant properties, and this one just happened to come availab