Colorado Ski Country USA is reporting that there were 11.2 million skier visits in the Centennial State in the 2003-04 ski season, a 3.4% decrease over last year. The trade organization saw many of the same patterns that Vail Resorts reported in their Q3 financial statement. In-state skiers waited for perfect conditions, and did not visit the resorts as often, while out-of state destination skier numbers actually increased.
“For the first time in seven years, Colorado posted a slight increase in out-of-state skier visits, which represent more than 60% of the total skier visits for the state,” said CSCUSA President and CEO Rob Perlman. “Colorado experienced strong demand from traditional core destination markets like Texas and California and growth from some non-traditional markets such as Alabama and Wyoming. Internationally, Colorado had a resurgence from core markets, with Australia and New Zealand both increasing by 41% and Germany increasing by 38% over 2002-03.”
This is good news for many of the resorts, since most of the locals ski with season passes, so the number of days they spend on the mountain doesnt affect revenues, except at the bar between runs.
This is also good news for the ski industry in general, because it implies that more people actually skied this year. When the final numbers are tallied, we may see an overall participation increase, after years of stagnation.
