The Vermont Ski Areas Association reported visits by skiers and other riders reached a record 4,670,903 during the 2014-15 winter season.
Vermont topped the previous record from 2001 due to another record early opening with ideal conditions for the state’s enhanced snowmaking, the epic parade of snow storms that gave Vermont the most snow of any state in the continental US, and the national story of the season that Vermont was the place to be for powder. Nationally, preliminary numbers show Vermont among just a few states in the country – and the only one in the Northeast – with increased visits.
“A near-perfect winter in Vermont allowed for both early openings and extended season operations, leading to the best season on record,” said VSAA President Parker Riehle. “The abundant snowstorms and our statewide snowmaking prowess created ideal conditions for visitors, with widespread press coverage that helped us get the word out that Vermont was the place to ski and ride this season.”
The other top story of the season was the Great Snow Gun Roundup, which enabled Vermont resorts to make more snow with significantly less energy, compressed air and water through Efficiency Vermont’s program that replaced 2,255 inefficient snow guns with 2,721 state-of-the-art low energy guns at 13 resorts the largest snow gun upgrade in the industry’s history. Proceeds from the scrapped guns were generously matched by HKD Snowmakers to substantially boost marketing efforts for Ski Vermont’s Learn to Turn programs.
The strong snow and record visits were also welcome news to the Vermont economy, netting nearly $220 million for the state’s coffers in winter season revenues from the sales tax and the rooms and meals tax. Overall, those revenues increased 4 percent, with the rooms and meals tax revenue alone topping last season by 8 percent.
This year also saw record increases for Ski Vermont in earned media, Learn to Turn program sales and the Check In to Win program. Once again, several Vermont resorts garnered numerous state and national awards for conversion efforts, hospitality, workplace wellness and environmental excellence.
