Colorado Skier Visits Down 5.5 Percent Last Season

CATHERINE TSAI

DENVER (AP) — The number of people skiing and snowboarding at Colorado resorts fell 5.5 percent last season amid a travel slump, according to preliminary figures from Colorado Ski Country USA.

Despite strong results at some ski areas, the trade group said Thursday that there were 11.85 million skier visits overall to Colorado resorts last season. Visits to the group's 22 member ski areas, which don't include Vail Resorts Inc.'s four Colorado resorts, 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, 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 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.