Ski VermontGathering at Jay Peak Resort for the Vermont Ski Areas Association’s 46thAnnual Meeting, the Vermont ski industry celebrated a record breaking 2014-15 season with 4,670,903 skier and rider visits. Vermont topped the previous record from 2001 due to anotherrecord early openingwith 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.
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Weather blamed for 5 percent drop in US skier visitsLargely because of Vermont's strong showing, the Northeast was the best region in the nation in maintaining last year's high levels of skier visits. While the Northeast essentially broke even, the Northwest suffered considerably (down 36.3 percent), as did the Midwest. US SKIER VISITS 2014-15: 53.60 million 2013-14: 56.49 million 2-12-13: 56.90 million 2011-12: 50.97 million 2010-11: 60.54 million VERMONT SKIER VISITS 2014-15: 4.7 million 2013-14: 4.5 million 2-12-13: 4.5 million 2011-12: 3.9 million 2010-11: 4.4 million The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) announced in May that USski areas tallied an estimated 53.6 million skier and snowboarder visits during the 2014-15 season—down 5 percent from last season’s 56.5 million total, and down 3.8 percent from the 5-year industry average of 55.7 million skier visits. The annual skier visit tally, an important industry metric, was released at the NSAA Convention and Tradeshow in San Francisco. Despite a stronger economy, weather challenges across all regions of the country contributed to this drop in skier visits. Nationally, snowfall was 28 percent below average this season—particularly on the West Coast—and especially frigid temperatures in the Midwest and the East, along with sizable snow storms in the Northeast, impacted the ability of skiers and snowboarders to even get to many ski areas. "The good news is that despite the vagaries of Mother Nature, ski areas have adapted and responded with dramatic expansions and investments in energy-efficient snowmaking," said Michael Berry, president of NSAA. "Even in a season where snowfall is off, our guests still get an incredible skiing or riding experience." NSAA said in a statement that the survey results also contained some particularly positive news. For example, the results from the critical Rocky Mountain region were well above the region’s 5-year average. Similarly, both the Northeast Region and the Southeast Region also had seasons that surpassed their 5-year averages. While the three regions were each just slightly below last season’s skier visits, both the Rocky Mountain region (where Colorado set an all-time record for skier visits last year), and New England (which had a very strong season in 2013-14) performed well despite weather challenges. NSAA’s survey results also showed strong growth in season pass sales, which were up 6.2 percent from the previous season—an important indicator in the public’s demand for skiing and snowboarding. Furthermore, international visits continued to grow, with double-digit growth over the previous season. This was especially encouraging, NSAA said, because this growth occurred against the backdrop of a strong dollar, which often translates into fewer international visits. In 2014-15, international visits accounted for 6percent of all skier visits to American ski areas, up from 5.6 percent last season. This season, the Northeast region was barely off last season’s strong skier visits numbers by 0.8 percent, In the 24 seasons of available NSAA’s Kottke End of Season Survey data (1991-92 to 2014-15), thisseason is estimated to have had the lowest snowfall on record for half the country (the Pacific Southwest,Pacific Northwest, and Rocky Mountain regions), and the second-lowest snowfall overall in the pastquarter-century. By contrast, snowfall was slightly above average in the Northeast and Southeast regions. From a long-term view, while 2014-15 was challenging for the Pacific Southwest and Pacific Northwest,other regions had relatively average, or above-average, seasons. The Rocky Mountain region enjoyed its Placed in context, 2014-15 skier visits nationally were up 5.1 percent from a recent low of 51 million visitsin 2011-12, and down 11.5 percent from the industry’s record high of 60.5 million visits from the 2010-11season. NSAA will release a final Kottke End of Season Survey this summer. Source:LAKEWOOD, Colo., May 4, 2015—The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) THE NATIONAL SKI AREAS ASSOCIATION, LOCATED IN LAKEWOOD, COLO., IS A TRADE ASSOCIATIONFORMED IN 1962 FOR SKI AREA OWNERS AND OPERATORS NATIONWIDE. |
“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 theGreat 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 ever snow gun upgrade in the industry’s history. Proceeds from the scrapped guns were generously matched byHKD Snowmakersto substantially boost marketing efforts for Ski Vermont’s Learn to Turn programs.
Photo by Jeb Wallace-Brodeur for Ski Vermont.
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 & meals tax. Overall, those revenues increased 4%, with the rooms & meals tax revenue alone topping last season by 8%.
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.
VSAA Green Mountain Awards
Stowe Mountain Resort: Greenest Overall Resort
Killington Resort: Most Improved Resort Overall
Killington Resort: Most Improved Energy Consumption
Stowe Mountain Resort: Most Improved Water Consumption
Sugarbush Resort: Most Improved Waste Reduction
Smugglers’ Notch Resort: Best Green Up Day Event
National Ski Areas Association
Killington Resort: Conversion Cup Winner
Bromley Mountain Resort: Conversion Cup Finalist
Vermont Travel Industry Conference
Trapp Family Lodge: Johannes von Trapp - Innkeeper of the Year
Red Clover Inn: Restaurateur of the Year
Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness & Sports
Sugarbush Resort: Governor’s Excellence in Worksite Wellness Award
Vermont Business Magazine
Okemo Mountain Resort: Top Ten Best Places to Work in Vermont
Stowe Mountain Resort: Top Ten Best Places to Work in Vermont
HKD Snowmakers
Smugglers’ Notch Resort: Chris Tefft – I Am A Snowmaker Award
At the annual gathering, with an attendance of nearly 300 industry members and marketing partners, National Ski Areas Association President Michael Berry presented the keynote address on the importance of the Millennial generation (ages 18-34) that has emerged as the largest group of snow sports participants. Former Stratton Mountain Resort President and VSAA Board Chair Sky Foulkes was presented with the Industry Achievement Award and Career Employee Awards were presented to Louis Carter of Jay Peak Resort, Larry Pierce of Sugarbush Resort, Paul Roy of Mount Snow Resort, and Barry Shonio of Stowe Mountain Resort.
Ski Vermont (Vermont Ski Areas Association)is a proud ambassador of the thriving winter tourism industry in Vermont, where the legislature has designated skiing and snowboarding as the official state sports. Vermont is not only the #1 ski state in the east and third in the US, but also reigns supreme in snowmaking quality and coverage, variety of terrain and historical impact on the sports of skiing and snowboarding - making it one of the most significant ski and ride destinations in the world. Ski Vermont’s mission is to help create a legislative, economic and social environment in which the state's ski areas can grow and prosper. It serves its 20 Alpine and 29 Nordic member resorts in three major areas: Governmental Affairs, Marketing and Public Affairs.
Sources: Ski Vermont. Vermont Business Magazine. 6.11.2015. TOP PHOTO: Opening Day Mount Snow November 21, 2014