Resorts rebound with 4.5 million slope visits

By Bruce Edwards
Rutland Herald 

STAFF WRITER | June 05,2013

 

The state’s ski industry rebounded this season for the second-best season on record as more than 4.5 million skiers and snowboarders hit the slopes of the state’s 18 resorts.

The 4,513,041 skier and snowboarder visits represented a 16 percent increase over the dismal 2011-12 season, the Vermont Ski Areas Association reported Tuesday at its annual meeting in Stowe.

This season was the best season since 2001 and the second best on record since VSAA began collecting data in 1992.

Parker Riehle, president of the VSAA, attributed the turnaround to several factors.

“We had perfectly timed snow around the holiday periods, plus we had our 80 percent snowmaking coverage, coupled with early season temperatures that allowed several resorts to post record early openings,” Riehle said in an interview prior to the annual meeting.

He also said the “backyard syndrome” that gets skiers down-country in a skiing frame of mind was no small factor.

“They had several blizzards in our down-country markets that buried their backyards,” Riehle said, “so there was no question that winter was alive and well in their minds.”

March was a turnaround month as well. He said March snowfall helped propel the season to a strong finish.

“We saw numbers in the month of March that we literally had not seen in years,” Riehle said. “The month of March was a huge reason why our overall numbers for the season came in so strong.”

Riehle said this season netted the state more than $170 million in tax revenue from the rooms and meals and sales taxes combined, surpassing pre-recession levels for the first time.

He said “that’s a real strong indication of how well the resorts were doing” with all ski areas posting double-digit increases in skier visits and revenue.

The jump in skier visits also had a ripple effect on businesses in and around the state’s ski resorts.

Business levels in the seven towns that comprise the Okemo Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce were up over the previous season, said Marji Graf, the chamber’s CEO. For example, Graf said, February consumption tax receipts for all of her member towns were up across the board but remained shy of the record set in February 2011.

“We are recovering a little slowly but we’re getting there,” she said.

Nationally, there were 56.6 million skier and rider visits this season, the largest one-year increase in 30 years. Riehle said the Northeast registered the biggest gains in the country.

Vermont ranked number one in the East and third nationwide in skier visits behind Colorado and California.

The annual meeting held at Stowe Mountain Resort was attended by a record 300 industry members and partners.

Gov. Peter Shumlin opened the meeting and Michael Berry, president of the National Ski Areas Association, presented the national perspective and continued efforts to attract new skiers and snow boarders to the sport. Bill Stenger, president of Jay Peak Resort, was presented with the Industry Achievement Award, and Jeff Boliba, vice president of Global Resorts at Burton Snowboards, received the Friend of the Industry Award.

Career Employee Awards were presented to two longtime employees at Okemo Mountain Resort, Barry Tucker and Barbara Johnston.


Comment:
I imagine Killington's 1 percent tax collections will be up. The Bill's 5 should have enough money from this ski season to build their dream Visitors Center without relying on the town to subsidize it.
Vito