Skier Numbers Drop for Vail Resorts

21st April 2024

Last modified on April 26th, 2024

The company that owns many resorts in North America saw almost 8% less visitors last season. Poor weather is blamed.

Vail Resorts owns 37 ski resorts across North America including Vail itself plus Breckenridge, Beaver Creek and Park City.

It also owns Andermatt-Sedrun in Switzerland and Perisher, Hotham and Falls Creek in Australia but these resorts are not included in the figures.

Season-to-date total skier visits were down 7.8% compared to the prior year season-to-date period.
Season-to-date total lift ticket revenue, including an allocated portion of season pass revenue for each applicable period, was up 3.2% compared to the prior year season-to-date period.
Season-to-date ski school revenue was up 7.0% and dining revenue was up 2.4% compared to the prior year season-to-date period.
Retail/rental revenue for North American resort and ski area store locations was down 7.1% compared to the prior year season-to-date period.

The data is interim period data and subject to fiscal quarter end review and adjustments.

“While visitation declined, our lift revenue increased driven by the growth in pass sales committed ahead of the season, and our ancillary businesses performed well, with particularly strong growth in spending per visit in our ski and ride school, dining, and rental businesses compared to the same period in the prior year,” said the CEO of Vail Resorts, Kirsten Lynch.

Whistler in Canada was one of the worst affected resorts.

Whistler, Canada. Image c/o PlanetSKI

“The challenging early season conditions at Whistler Blackcomb and our Tahoe resorts persisted through early March,” added Lynch.

“When conditions improved, visitation at our Tahoe resorts responded as expected, however visitation at Whistler Blackcomb remained below expectations.”

PlanetSKI was in Whistler last December:

Women’s snow camps in Whistler

Recently resorts in the USA have seen good Spring snowfall:

Skiing continues in the USA

The season is over in Vail itself and the company says it will now shift its focus to the 2024/2025 season with its Epic Pass now on sale.

That’s a wrap on our 2023-2024 winter season! Thank you to all who came out this year and HUGE thanks to our employees who have given their all, year after year, to make Vail an amazing place to ski and ride. We’ll see you soon! pic.twitter.com/N1YcTsKzY8
— Vail (@vailmtn) April 21, 2024