Navajo woman-owned Antelope Canyon tours celebrates 10 years of business

PAGE, AZ (AZFamily) — Millions of people from all over visit the swirling red rocks of Antelope Canyon every year.

Several different tour companies are available. One of them, a Navajo woman-owned business, just celebrated 10 years of business.

Leilah Young’s mother, Dixie, received hiking permits from the Navajo Nation for Antelope Canyon in 2014.

With only the help of family, she opened Dixie’s Lower Antelope Canyon Tours.

“She had no idea how to operate a business, but she went in there and believed in herself,” Young said. “Literally, she put up one of those tents, canopies with a plastic table and a couple of chairs. That first day she only had 12 visitors.”

Now, they give tours to over 300,000 people from across the world every year and can take 1,500 people on a tour daily.

“It’s amazing to hear that they plan their vacations around specifically seeing lower Antelope Canyon and it’s impressive what we’ve built,” Young said.

More than 4 million people visit the area annually.

Young is now CEO and said all the tourism has helped the city of Page and surrounding communities grow.

“I think in the last 10 years there’s been like 20 hotels that have popped up and these hotels are going up because of this slot canyon,” she said.

The Antelope Canyon tours also provide much-needed job opportunities for people on the Navajo Nation.

“We have an employee that actually drives two hours every day just to get to work,” Young said. “I’m just like ‘oh my goodness’ and that’s how scarce jobs are out on the Navajo Nation. We here want to share a part of our culture. We want to share a part of the Navajo Nation and how beautiful the Navajo Nation can be.”

The 10 years were celebrated with a ribbon cutting and art unveiling.

Young said that for the next decade, they want to continue to give back to their community, create more business opportunities and grow as a family company.

“I’m very proud of how far we’ve come. I’m very proud of how far we’ve come as a family. I’m proud of the things that we’ve been able to accomplish,” Young said.

Summer is the busy season, and tours are full daily, so their suggestion is to try to book your trip a month in advance. You can find out more about booking here.

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