It's a record: More people skied in Utah this season than ever before

Several factors were involved, but the bottom line is that more people took advantage of Utah’s ski slopes this season than ever before. Officials reported last week that total skier days for the 2015-16 season were up almost 5 percent from the previous high season for the 2015-16 season to 4,457,575, The previous high was 4,249,190 skier days posted in the 2007-08 season.

Several factors were involved, but the bottom line is that more people took advantage of Utah’s ski slopes this season than ever before. Officials reported last week that total skier days for the 2015-16 season were up almost 5 percent from the previous high season for the 2015-16 season to 4,457,575, The previous high was 4,249,190 skier days posted in the 2007-08 season.

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 or snowboarding. The 2015-16 season’s total was 10.4 percent above the five-year average, according to Ski Utah executive director Nathan Rafferty. The total was up 13 percent over the previous season.

Rafferty attributed the record to well-timed storms that allowed for more prime ski days. Early storms sent skiers to the slopes earlier than usual and late storms kept them up there, he said.

Another contributing factor was the investment ski resorts made in improvements for the season — nearly $100 million, according to reports — much of that coming from the merger by Vail Resorts of the Park City and Canyons ski areas, creating what is being billed as the largest ski resort in the world. Vail spent $50 million to build an eight-person gondola connecting the two resorts, upgrade other lifts and build a new restaurant.

“The Park City effect was in full effect,” Rafferty said. “The additions they made benefited all the resorts.”

A third reason for the increases, according to Rafferty, was an increased budget by the Utah Office of Tourism for the ski season. The tourism office budgeted $2,664,317 in regional and national marketing for the 2015-16 ski season, the most ever, Jay Kinghorn of the tourism office said.

For next season, the amount will increase as the ski budget from the Legislature was increased from $18 million to $21 million next season, Kinghorn said.

Although numbers for individual resorts are not released, Rafferty said about half of them set new records this season. The industry association doesn’t release skier visit numbers for individual resorts, but Rafferty said nearly half of them set records.

Rafferty also pointed to the contribution skiing makes to the Utah economy. He said it means about $1.3 billion in yearly tourism spending. He thinks this past season probably was closer to $1.5 billion, thanks to the record visits. Skiers who come to Utah spend an average of $235 per day each, he said.