November 17, 2000

Ice hotel scheduled to open in 2002

QUEBEC (AP) -- North America's first ice hotel will open in 2002, but promoters say people will be able to get a sneak peek this January.

A small version will be built behind the Manoir Montmorency in Duchesny, near the provincial capital, says Jacques Desbois, one of the men behind the project.

Quebec City already attracts thousands to its annual Winter Carnival. Desbois introduced an igloo village to that festival.

The hotel will have high ceilings, an immense bar capable of seating 300, a movie theater, art galleries and tourist rooms going for $150 a night. It will be open for 12 weeks before it melts.

Desbois said the promoters want to attract Japanese and European tourists, luring them with a Nordic experience that will be coupled with outdoor activities such as dogsled rides, ice fishing and skiing.

He doesn't think guests will spend more than one night in the hotel and will opt for more traditional lodgings for the rest of their stay in the area.

There is already considerable interest in the hotel: 1,000 reservations have already been confirmed for the six rooms that will be available this winter.

The ice hotel in Sweden, which is seven hours by road from Stockholm, has lodged 6,000 reservations per year.

The Quebec ice hotel will have a surface area of 3,000 square feet (1,000 square meters), one quarter of the size of the one in Sweden.

The Quebec hotel will cost $350,000 to build, including $125,000 from the Quebec government.

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