Ski Visits Dip at Intrawest’s Eastern Resorts

Intrawest Resorts Holdings Inc. reported that sales of season pass and frequency products are up approximately 7 percent in units and 16 percent in dollars from the beginning of the ski season through Jan. 4 compared with the prior year period through Jan. 5, 2014.

The results exclude Blue Mountain Ski Resort, which was not 100 percent owned in the prior year period. The company, which owns seven four-season mountain resorts and one of the largest heli-skiing adventure companies in North America, also reported:

• Season-to-date total skier visits were down 0.8 percent compared to the prior year season-to-date period, primarily due to challenging weather and conditions in the East.
• Season-to-date total lift ticket revenue, including an allocated portion of season pass revenue for each applicable period, grew approximately 3.3 percent compared to the prior year season-to-date period.
• Season-to-date ski school revenue grew 8.8 percent and retail/rental revenue grew 5.3 percent, while food and beverage and lodging revenues were down 1.1 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively.
• Including Blue Mountain Ski Resort, season-to-date Effective Ticket Price (“ETP”) increased 4.2 percent over the prior year season-to-date period.

“We are pleased that our season pass and frequency product sales, pricing initiatives, and snowmaking technology positioned us to overcome challenging weather in the East,” stated Tom Marano, Chief Executive Officer. “Season-to-date performance was particularly strong at our Colorado resorts where lift revenue grew more than 8 percent. With cold weather having returned, our Eastern resorts now have approximately 90 percent of terrain open versus less than 60 percent at the beginning of the Christmas holiday period.

“Normalized conditions in the East, strong season pass and frequency product sales, increased guest spending on ancillary services, and the fact that this point in the season historically represents only between 25 percent and 30 percent of total skier visits, all give us confidence that we are well positioned for a successful season,” Marano continued.

Intrawest owns interests in seven four-season mountain resorts across most of North America’s major ski regions, including the Eastern United States, the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Southwest and Canada. The Company also operates an adventure travel business, the cornerstone of which is Canadian Mountain Holidays, the leading heli-skiing adventure company in North America. Additionally, the company operates a comprehensive real estate business through which it manages, markets and sells vacation club properties; manages condominium hotel properties; and sells and markets residential real estate.