Ski resorts’ outlook dismal for upcoming season
By RMI Staff 
| August 3, 2009 | 11:17 AM
The Aspen Times reports that Aspen Skiing Co. does not expect the upcoming ski season to fully recover from last season, when ski visits were down 7.6 percent.
Resorts could foretell business with a high degree of certainty between 2005 and fall 2008 — when the economy was humming along — because travelers made advance commitments. That all changed in mid-September. Reservations ceased when the fiscal crisis exploded in mid-September, then bounced back a little bit from December through February. But by and large, the recreation travel business has been forced to rely on last-minute bookings, which frays nerves of business managers.
The resorts expect advance bookings to improve after last season, but only nominally. Perhaps making things worse is some local skiers, hit by the economy personally or working for local businesses that have been affected, will be unable to afford to ski as often as in the past.
Meanwhile, Vail Resorts is trying to recover from a mistaken strategy last season that predicted skiers lured by discounts on skiing and lodging would spend money elsewhere on their visit.
