The case for transforming Park City

In just reporting how the last ski season ended, The Park Record, our local paper announced an overall 22.5% decline in sales tax receipts from the year before. This, by the way, is what I had predicted in November 2009. What is remarkable, however is that the season got worse as it went on. Consider this: December only showed a 5.5% decline, while January was at 18.8%, February 28.4% and March 33.4%! The trend is bad and doesn't bode well for the upcoming ski season.

Now there's something, our community could do about, it's re-invent itself, offer visitors a much improved product by beginning to link two of its three resorts and making a statement to the industry that it will pursue a full-blown interconnect between the seven contiguous Wasatch mountain resorts. This would create a formidable buzz, capable of lifting up sales in anticipation of the this transforming event. That's a no-risk innovation that has been in use and fully tested for almost 40 years in the Alps and is capable of doubling our on-snow visitations when the full linkage is completed. Local resorts shouldn't increase rates as it's rumored they'll do, instead they should enhance their creativity by linking up and only then, will they win big!