Vail Resorts, Inc. ski-season metrics for the season to date, ending Jan. 5, show this season’s sales are a mixed bag
The company owns 42 ski resorts in the United States, Canada, Australia and Switzerland, including Whistler Blackcomb. The released ski metrics focus solely on North American destinations and do not provide granular data specific to Whistler Blackcomb.
Compared to the prior season-to-date period, visitation was down 0.3 per cent, but lift-ticket revenue was up 4.5 per cent. Ski-school revenue increased 1.1 per cent, dining was up by 6.6 per cent, and retail/rental revenue was down 5.4 per cent.
"We are pleased with our season-to-date results, which reflect the stability provided by our season pass program, our investments in the guest experience, and the execution of our mountain operations teams across all of our mountain resorts,” said Kirsten Lynch, chief executive officer. “Season-to-date results benefited from improved weather conditions, and were impacted by the continued industry demand normalization and the late timing of the Thanksgiving holiday in the current year as expected, along with a shift of destination guest behaviour to later in the season.”
Lynch highlighted positive early season conditions, which drove local visitation higher than last ski season. Holiday visitation was down, which she attributed to “a continued shift in visitation patterns across the ski industry to later in the ski season that increased after challenging early season conditions in the prior year.”
Ancillary spending, or extra purchases, were strong for ski school and dining, which she said reflected the “higher mix of local visitation during the period."
Vail Resorts expects the rest of the ski season should see increased visitation from international visitors based on lodging booking trends and historic patterns.
