How bad is Covid-19’s ski season?

As a public company, Vail Resorts' quarterly update, published on January 18, is a good indicator about how bad this early winter has been hindered by the pandemic. 

We must be keep in mind several factors. The main one seems to be Covid-19’s restrictions on lift capacity, lack of access to Whistler by non-Canadians, less visits in general and below-normal snow cover across many of VR's Western resorts that all contributed to the drop observed. 

In terms of skier-days, these dropped 17% through the Holidays, with the biggest declines were felt in Whistler, Lake Tahoe area, and Vermont. Lift tickets revenue were down by 21% while food and beverage (mostly on-mountain) down 66% as skiers avoided restaurants. 

As anticipated, ski school revenue were down by a huge 53%, and retail/rental activity was down by 39%. Lodging revenue was down as well by 55% which seems enormous, and wasn’t reflected everywhere, including Park City that overall, was in the 20% range. 

No big surprise with these numbers!