Colorado Ski Country USA Announces Double Digit Increase In Skier Visits In 2018-19 Season
Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) announced at its 56th Annual Meeting in Denver skier visits at its now 23-member ski resorts increased 13 percent over last year’s total, which is nearly 12 percent above the five-year average. Using publicly available information, CSCUSA is projecting a new statewide record for skier visits of 13.8 million. Today’s announcement reflects a percentage increase that includes the current makeup of the association and is adjusted for the departure of Crested Butte from the membership in 2018-19.
“The 2018-19 season was one for the history books,” said CSCUSA president and CEO Melanie Mills. “Not only did the industry set a new statewide record for skier visits, but there were substantial investments in capital improvements across our member resorts, and snowfall was plentiful across the entire state.”
All regions of Colorado received significant snowfall throughout the season with the northern, central and southern mountains all blanketed in white. The early season was marked by significant resort investment with six new chairlifts whisking skiers and riders up the mountain, five new restaurants across the state, the new Limelight Hotel in Snowmass and other new activities and offerings. January and February saw additional snowfall and increased industry-wide advocacy on climate change with the formation of the Outdoor Business Climate Partnership and a joint statement from eight state ski trade associations in support of increased climate action.
“Colorado Ski Country member ski areas have shown a commitment to improving and enhancing the guest experience with new lifts, new restaurants, new lodging properties and new activities and offerings,” continued Mills. “Combined with a long, strong season and geographically diverse snowfall, our members were able to deliver a record-setting year.”
Late February and March featured record or near record snow totals and set up a strong end to the season with five CSCUSA member ski areas announcing season extensions with Aspen Mountain and Arapahoe Basin still spinning lifts on weekends.
Skier visits are the metric used to track participation in skiing and snowboarding. A skier visit represents a person participating in the sport of skiing or snowboarding for any part of one day at a mountain resort. These numbers are preliminary and subject to final adjustment.
