Colorado Skier Visits Down 5.5 Percent Last Season

CATHERINE TSAI

DENVER (AP) — Colorado Ski Country USA says skier visits to Colorado resorts last season fell 5.5 percent to 11.85 million amid a slump in the travel industry.

The trade group said Thursday that preliminary figures show skier visits to its 22 member resorts, which don't include Vail Resorts Inc.'s four Colorado ski areas, fell 6.9 percent last season to 6.79 million.

Vail Resorts has said it had about 5 million skier visits at Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone and Breckenridge last season, down about 3.5 percent from 5.2 million the season before.

The results are in line with a 5.5 percent drop the National Ski Areas Association reported in May for the season. It said preliminary figures showed there were 57.1 million visits to ski resorts across the country, down from a record 60.5 million visits the season before.

Ski company officials had said they expected resorts within driving distance of big cities to fare better in 2008-2009. The National Ski Areas Association said destination resorts suffered most last season.