22 - 23 ski season smashes all time visitation numbers

[drjeff]

Stuart Winchester of the Storm Skiing podcast, just reported that the preliminary numbers just released at the going on right now National Ski Areas Association annual meeting showed over 64.7 million skier/rider visits which is roughly a 6.6% increase over last years busiest ever ski season

The popularity of the sport is strong, even if the crowds it can create cause issues with many in the AZ community

 

[cdskier]

Was any data released yet about the number of participants? To me that is a more important metric than the skier visits alone.

 

[drjeff]

Was any data released yet about the number of participants? To me that is a more important metric than the skier visits alone.

All that was mentioned in the press release was that it was based on the number of tickets sold and the number of times season passes were scanned, not invidual number of people. Pass scans you could get that number I am sure and factor in some cross over for people who have mutliple passes. Indivual day tickets I am not sure if that really could be tabulated as not all resorts have a data base of their day ticket buyers as well as some people buying day tickets to certain mountains may very well have a pass(es) to other resorts as well.

People want to ski/ride,, and whether that means using a pass product more often or getting new people into the sport, is likely a much more challenging to figure out.

And of note as well, the only 2 of the 6 geographic regions of the country they use for reporting statistics that were down compared to last season in visits were the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, and even those apparently were only minimally down over last season. The Pacific Northwest, The Rockies, the Midwest and the Northeast were all up in visits

 

[cdskier]

All that was mentioned in the press release was that it was based on the number of tickets sold and the number of times season passes were scanned, not invidual number of people. Pass scans you could get that number I am sure and factor in some cross over for people who have mutliple passes. Indivual day tickets I am not sure if that really could be tabulated as not all resorts have a data base of their day ticket buyers as well as some people buying day tickets to certain mountains may very well have a pass(es) to other resorts as well.

People want to ski/ride,, and whether that means using a pass product more often or getting new people into the sport, is likely a much more challenging to figure out.

And of note as well, the only 2 of the 6 geographic regions of the country they use for reporting statistics that were down compared to last season in visits were the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, and even those apparently were only minimally down over last season. The Pacific Northwest, The Rockies, the Midwest and the Northeast were all up in visits

I'm not concerned with how challenging the number is to calculate. They've been estimating it since the mid-90s and reporting on it somehow.

https://nsaa.org/webdocs/Media_Public/IndustryStats/active_US_participants_1996-97_2021-22.pdf

 

[urungus]

So “busiest ever” since the mid 90s ? I’m not sure how precise their counting was back then either.

 

[cdskier]

So “busiest ever” since the mid 90s ? I’m not sure how precise their counting was back then either.

Active participants they've been "estimating" since the mid-90s.

Skier visits they've been reporting since the late 70s. Although I've long made the argument we really have no idea how accurate the numbers from the past were. Sure a resort likely knows how many day tickets they sold, but before scanning of passes became a thing, they'd just use a certain number of days per season pass-holder to calculate the visits from pass-holders. Not sure if there was any sort of standard on that either...so each resort could have calculated that differently. At least today I think the numbers for skier visits themselves should be relatively reliable thanks to so many resorts using scanning of some sort. But I agree "busiest ever" could easily be misleading if the numbers in the past were under-reported due to not having an accurate way to get true numbers.

 

[ThatGuy]

Could it be possible more people having season passes leads to increased visits but is not correlated to growth of the industry. Because everyone I know who skis/boards has either quit or is getting way more days in due to the prevalence of pass products.

 

[cdskier]

Could it be possible more people having season passes leads to increased visits but is not correlated to growth of the industry. Because everyone I know who skis/boards has either quit or is getting way more days in due to the prevalence of pass products.

That's precisely why I'm interested in seeing the active participant number.

 

[thetrailboss]

Was any data released yet about the number of participants? To me that is a more important metric than the skier visits alone.

Bingo

 

[thetrailboss]

Stuart Winchester of the Storm Skiing podcast, just reported that the preliminary numbers just released at the going on right now National Ski Areas Association annual meeting showed over 64.7 million skier/rider visits which is roughly a 6.6% increase over last years busiest ever ski season

The popularity of the sport is strong, even if the crowds it can create cause issues with many in the AZ community

"Come on now, everybody please join me in a singing tribute to my EPIC friend!"

 

[jimk]

 

[Dickc]

"Come on now, everybody please join me in a singing tribute to my EPIC friend!"

Your obsession with Mr. Katz is DISturbing!!!!

 

[thetrailboss]

Your obsession with Mr. Katz is DISturbing!!!!

(It's called humor)

 

[Dickc]

(It's called humor)

You did not get the DIS reference?

 

[thetrailboss]

You did not get the DIS reference?

Unfortunately no......I am not sure (?)

 

[Dickc]

Unfortunately no......I am not sure (?)

Its a Kzone reference.

 

[Smellytele]

Really think it is due to more season passes being scanned than more actual days of skiing.

 

[abc]

Was any data released yet about the number of participants? To me that is a more important metric than the skier visits alone.

Both are important. You can have small number of people skiing a lot. Or large number of people skiing occasionally. I don’t see why one is “more important” than the other.

One may argue one without the other isn’t very useful

 

[abc]

Really think it is due to more season passes being scanned than more actual days of skiing.

Why would there be scans without actual skiing?

 

[Dickc]

Why would there be scans without actual skiing?

I think he means a more thorough scanning so less people are missed.