Page 28 - NSAA_Fall2015Journal

KOTTKE 2014-15 END OF SEASON REPORT

SKI INDUSTRY TURNS IN POSITIVE PERFORMANCE OVERALL

BY DAVE BELIN, DIRECTOR OF CONSULTING SERVICES, RRC ASSOCIATES

TRACKING THE OVERALL HEALTH of and changes in the ski exceeding only the 2011-12 season’s 50.1 million visits and
resort industry is one of NSAA’s core roles. Press releases and well short of the 60.5 million total visits achieved in both the
tidbits in local newspapers sometimes reveal what kind of 2007-08 and 2010-11 seasons.
season a particular ski area or state had, but the authoritative
information source for the overall state of the ski resort The 2014-15 season was particularly difficult in historic
industry is NSAA’s Kottke National End of Season Survey. terms in the Pacific Southwest and Pacific Northwest, with
the two areas combined experiencing their lowest visitation
This report, prepared by RRC Associates, documents in 37 years of Kottke records, impacted by historically low
they key indicators and metrics about US ski areas, including snow. The Pacific Southwest is estimated to have had its
total snowsports visits, snowfall, lessons, snowboarding, lowest visitation in the 20 years of available records, while
season passes, capital investment, and many other topics. the Pacific Northwest is estimated to have had its second
Let’s review some of the most critical information from that lowest visitation in 20 years.
report, which is available from NSAA.
By contrast, the other four regions experienced relatively
DOWNHILL SNOWSPORTS VISITS average or above-average seasons in long-term historical
The top line number from the Kottke report that garners the perspective. The Rocky Mountain region had its fifth best
most attention is downhill snowsports visits. Total visits for season on record (14.3 percent above the 37 season average).
the 2014-15 season were 53.6 million, down 5.2 percent from The Southeast had its 10th best season (12.1 percent above
56.5 million in the 2013-14 season (Table 1). Nationally, its long-term average), and the Northeast had its 14th best
visitation was the second lowest in the past 10 seasons, season (6.5 percent above average). The Midwest had a
somewhat subpar season (3.9 percent below its long-term

TABLE 1 PROJECTED SNOWSPORTS VISITS BY REGION 2011/12 - 2014/15

REGION 2014/15 2013/14 14/15 VS. 13/14 2012/13 14/15 VS. 12/13 2011/12 14/15 VS. 11/12
% CHANGE % CHANGE % CHANGE

NORTHEAST 13,332,252 13,385,941 -0.4% 13,333,572 0.0% 11,020,756 21.0%
SOUTHEAST 5,673,328 5,769,158 -1.7% 5,155,138 10.1% 4,404,654 28.8%
MIDWEST 6,981,766 7,694,705 -9.3% 7,273,465 -4.0% 6,382,176
ROCKY MOUNTAIN -1.6% 9.4%
PACIFIC SOUTHWEST 20,767,721 21,099,945 -6.4% 19,800,404 4.9% 19,130,471 8.6%
PACIFIC NORTHWEST 4,822,329 5,154,112 -40.9% 7,140,141 -32.5% 6,066,273 -20.5%
TOTAL 2,000,229 3,387,203 -5.2% 4,201,508 -52.4% 3,962,077 -49.5%
-5.8% 5.1%
53,577,625 56,491,064 56,904,227 50,966,407

26 | NSAA JOURNAL | FALL 2015