Image Credit: Chris Pearson for Ski Utah
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (June 15, 2021) – With ski resorts now closed for winter operations, Utah ski areas are thrilled to announce that the 2020-21 winter season was record-breaking in many respects for all 15 Utah resorts, despite COVID-19’s impact. Utah ski resorts saw a record-breaking total of 5,301,766 skier days* in the 2020-21 winter season.
Utah’s skier days for 2020-21 were up 3.44% over the previous record-breaking season of 5.13 million skier days in the 2018-19 season. According to the National Ski Areas Association, the ski industry is a major contributor to the United States economy with over $55 billion in retail spend and over 533,000 jobs across all 50 states.
“Going into the season, our metric for success was simply getting open and remaining open,” said Nathan Rafferty, President of Ski Utah. “However, throughout the season it became clear that skiing provided a respite from the day to day realities of the pandemic and allowed an option for guests to safely socialize outside. Our resorts came together to implement a variety of COVID protocols that allowed each of our resorts to not only remain open through the end of the season but also break our existing Utah skier day record. While 2020-21 looked different in terms of guest experience, it was our best year yet”.
With robust COVID-19 safety protocols, including capacity limitations and reservations for several mountains, many may wonder how this record-breaking skier day number was achieved. “While many of the resorts saw record-breaking seasonal numbers, most of Utah’s resorts did not see any individual day records broken. With many skiers working remotely, it’s clear that guests were able to enjoy more off-peak skiing, like weekday afternoon visits or short lunch time trips to the mountains,” said Rafferty. “In addition, Utah benefits from a variety of multi-resort season passes that allow locals and visitors alike to spread out their skiing across all 15 resorts throughout the state, rather than flocking to only a few resorts.”
While the snow was slow to come this season, when it finally did, Utah’s resorts enjoyed another year of The Greatest Snow On Earth®. One February storm even provided over eight feet of snow in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
“We want to thank all of our resort operators and guests for doing their part to help keep Utah ski resorts open throughout the season and allow us to have another record-breaking year statewide,” said Rafferty.
|
Season |
Skier Days* |
All-Time Rank (Last 10 yrs.) |
|
2020-21 |
5,301,766 |
1 |
|
2019-20 |
4,392,698 |
5 |
|
2018 - 19 |
5,125,441 |
2 |
|
2017 - 18 |
4,145,321 |
8 |
|
2016 - 17 |
4,584,658 |
3 |
|
2015 - 16 |
4,457,575 |
4 |
|
2013 - 14 |
4,148,573 |
7 |
|
2012 - 13 |
4,018,812 |
10 |
|
2010 - 11 |
4,247,510 |
6 |
|
2009-10 |
4,070,822 |
9 |
*The National Ski Areas Association defines ‘skier days’ as one person visiting a ski area for all or any part of a day or night for the purpose of skiing/snowboarding.
The Ski Utah #GiveAThanks video can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5ofV64-Prs&feature=youtu.be
For media information, contact Ski Utah Director of Communications Alison Palmintere at 408.406.0190 or by email at alison@skiutah.com
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Ski Utah is the marketing firm owned and operated by the 15 statewide ski resorts that make up the Utah Ski and Snowboard Association. The organization has been creating brand awareness of and demand for the Utah winter sports product since its inception in 1978. Ski Utah’s primary functions are concentrated in marketing, public policy and public relations. Information about Ski Utah and its members can be found at skiutah.com, on Twitter and Instagram @SkiUtah and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/skiutahyeti.
