Late Snow Causes Vail’s Early Traffic to Slip

“We are pleased with our early season metrics, particularly given the current state of the economy and since snowfall came late to our Colorado resorts this year,” said Vail's CEO Rob Katz. “Below average snowfall at our Colorado resorts leading up to the holiday season limited the amount of terrain open, which negatively impacted skier visits, including pass visits, during the early season and the beginning of the holiday season.  Fortunately, recent winter storms brought significant snowfall to our resorts, which allowed us to open the vast majority of our lift serviced terrain at our five resorts.”

 

For example, Katz said Vail Mountain on Dec. 18, 2009, had only 19 of its lifts and 28% of its terrain open, whereas Vail Mountain now has 30 lifts open and 95% of its terrain open, including all of the Back Bowls and Blue Sky Basin. 

 

While skier visits were down 2.7%, total lift ticket revenue was essentially flat. Season pass revenue was up despite lower visitation from season pass holders during this period.  Ski school and retail/rental revenue declined only 0.6% and 0.8%, respectively, in line with total lift ticket revenue, despite the higher visitation decline.  Dining revenue tracked more closely to the decline in total skier visits, with improvements from new initiatives more than offset by the lack of facilities being open in the early season with limited terrain available. 

 

As of Dec. 31, 2009, lodging booking trend remained consistent with what was reported as of Nov. 30, 2009. 

 

“As evidenced by our mountain metric results to date, we continue to believe these booking trends are much more of a reflection of a shorter booking window than necessarily an indication of lower future visitation,” said Katz.