Industry News
Vail Resorts yesterday reported certain ski season metrics for the comparative periods from the beginning of the ski season through January 7, 2024, and for the prior year period through January 8, 2023. The reported ski season metrics are for the Company’s North American destination mountain resorts and regional ski areas, excluding the results of the Australian ski areas and Andermatt-Sedrun in both periods. The data mentioned in this release is interim period data and is subject to fiscal quarter-end review and adjustments.
Kirsten Lynch, Chief Executive Officer commented that the challenging conditions to start the 2023/2024 North American ski season led to a decline in both local and destination skier visitation. However, the company is pleased with its season-to-date results and the guest service delivered at its resorts, highlighting the stability provided by its season pass program and the investments made in its resorts and employees
- Season-to-date total skier visits were down 16.2% compared to the prior year season-to-date period.
- Season-to-date total lift ticket revenue, including an allocated portion of season pass revenue for each applicable period, was up 2.6% compared to the prior year season-to-date period.
- Season-to-date ski school revenue was up 5.0%, and dining revenue was down 5.8% compared to the prior year’s season-to-date period. Retail/rental revenue for North American resort and ski area store locations was down 13.3% compared to the prior year’s season-to-date period.
Commenting on the ski season-to-date, Kirsten Lynch said, “Given the challenging conditions to start the 2023/2024 North American ski season, we are pleased with our season-to-date results and the guest service delivered at our resorts, highlighting the stability provided by our season pass program and the investments we have made in our resorts and employees. Through the holiday period that ended January 7, 2024, conditions across our North American resorts were below average in all regions compared to the strong early season conditions in the prior year period, leading to a decline in both local and destination skier visitation. The unfavorable conditions impacted all of our North American resorts, particularly our Eastern U.S. (comprising the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast) and Tahoe resorts, which were impacted by limited natural snow and variable temperatures that resulted in delayed openings, reduced terrain offerings, and select resort closure days through the holiday period. Although the conditions negatively impacted visitation across our North American resorts, particularly among our local guests, our season pass sales results significantly mitigated the impact of the slower start to the season on overall lift revenue and highlighted the stability created by our advance commitment strategy. Despite the decline in season-to-date visitation relative to the prior year period, we are pleased with the strength in ancillary spending per visit across our ski school, rental, and dining businesses.”
Lynch continued, “As a result of the challenging conditions through the holiday period, season-to-date guest visitation and revenue were below our expectations in North America. The majority of our North American resorts experienced significant snowstorms leading up to and over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, which impacted the guest experience, but also led to recently improved conditions across our resorts. Based on our significant base of pre-committed guests through advance commitment pass products and an improvement in conditions across our resorts in recent weeks, we now expect that Resort Reported EBITDA for fiscal 2024 will be in the lower half of the guidance range issued on September 28, 2023. Our guidance assumes a continuation of the improvement in conditions that we are currently experiencing at our North American resorts, normal weather conditions for the remainder of the 2023/2024 European ski season and the 2024 Australian ski season, a continuation of the current economic environment, and the foreign currency exchange rates as of our original September 2023 guidance. We are looking forward to the remainder of the season given the recently improved conditions, the investments we have made to continue elevating the guest experience, and the stability provided by our season pass program.”
