Vail Resorts said last week that the number of skiers visiting their resorts went down by 7.8% for the season, but they stated that they made more money from selling lift tickets, ski school, and dining.
The information was announced on Friday in a news release, two days before Vail Mountain closed for the season. All Vail Resorts mountains in Colorado have closed except Breckenridge, which is scheduled to remain open into May, conditions permitting.
Kirsten Lynch, the chief executive of Vail Resorts, mentioned in a statement that the numbers show the company's strength.
“Considering the unfavorable conditions across our North American resorts for a large part of the season, we are happy with our overall results as the 2023/2024 North American ski season nears completion, highlighting the stability provided by our season pass program and the investments we have made in our resorts and employees,” she said.
“Even though fewer people visited, we made more money from lift sales due to the increase in pass sales before the season, and our other businesses like ski school, dining, and rentals had strong growth in spending per visit compared to the previous year,” Lynch also mentioned in the company statement.
According to the release, revenue from lift tickets went up by 3.2%, ski school by 7%, and dining by 2.4%.
Lynch stated that the number of visitors in March and April was higher than last year, after a tough start to the season with low snow conditions affecting some of its resorts like Whistler-Blackcomb in Canada and the resorts in the Tahoe area of California (Heavenly, Northstar, and Kirkwood).
“Our strong sales of season passes before the start of this season minimized the impact of the unfavorable conditions across our North American resorts for a large part of the season, underlining the stability created by our strategy of advance commitment,” Lynch said.
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