Ski resorts anticipate big season

[Bubba]

Travel & Tourism: Ski resorts anticipate big season after tumultuous two years

https://vermontbiz.com/news/2022/octobe ... 0_16_2022)

[rogman]

No great surprises. Season passes and advance reservations are up, so expecting a good season. What was interesting was the inclusion of skier visit data going all the way back to the 60's. Of course I had to plot it:

vermont_skier_days.png (51.36 KiB) Viewed 625 times

Weird that skier visits have been flat since the mid-1980's: over 35 years. Airline deregulation occurred under Carter in 1978 so while perhaps part of it, certainly can't account for all of it. Act 250 passed in 1970, so that really isn't to blame: growth continued for 15 years afterwards. How has the Vermont Ski Industry numbers managed to remain stagnant for so long?

[Nikoli]

Market Saturation...

[GMCrra]

Those numbers obscure that lifts tickets have increased more than inflation, and skiing has gotten only wealthier. Smaller pie and more travel mobility.
Epic and IKON might mean fewer skiers logging many visits at the same mountain and more dispersion.

It would be interesting to see VT-only season pass numbers across the whole state by year to segment single trippers vs loyalists.

[throbster]

Changing demographics

[Southside_Bobby]

Disney.

[Mister Moose]

Could it be as simple as...
.

Skier Visits 63-22.jpg (90.56 KiB) Viewed 467 times

.
Growth phase: Completion of I-91, build out of snowmaking, lift capacity grows, better equipment for easier learning.

Mature phase: Despite air fare changes, population growth, gas price spikes, change in skier visit count methodology and the advent of league sports and video games, roughly the same number of families are skiing for the last 35 years.

[volklopposition]

Hoping for lots of snow and mild crowds but that's just me.