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Kottke End of Season Survey


                   Preliminary Results,


                   2016–17 Season





                   By Dave Belin, Director of Consulting Services, RRC Associates




















     A              fter a busy winter season filled with the   Northwest (up 5.2 percent), and declines in the Pacific








                    usual excitement, events, entertainment, and
                                                                and Midwest (-3.8 percent).
        maybe even some emergencies, the longer days of summer   Southwest (-2.4 percent), Rocky Mountains (-2.9 percent)
        present some time to reflect on how the winter went and
        to plan for the following season.                       Regional Averages
            The 2016-17 ski season was good overall, with a     In recent historical context, the three western regions per-
        strong rebound in the Northeast, a record season in the   formed above their five-season averages (figure 2). Specifically,
        Pacific Northwest, and the second-best season on record   the Pacific Northwest is preliminarily estimated to have had
        for the Rocky Mountain region. At the same time, the    its best season on record (up 5.2 percent from its previous
        Midwest region is estimated to have had its worst season   record last season, and up 21.4 percent from its five-season
        since Kottke records started in 1978-79.                average). The Rocky Mountain region is estimated to have
                                                                had its second-best season (up 2.5 percent from its five-season
        Estimated Total Visits                                  average). The Pacific Southwest also had an above-average sea-
        The preliminary report for the Kottke End of Season     son (14.4 percent above its five-season average).
        Survey documents total US downhill snowsports visits,       By contrast, the three eastern regions had below-aver-
        which rose by 3.7 percent to 54.7 million in the 2016-17   age visits in the perspective of the recent five seasons. The
        season (see figure 1). Visits were variable by region, with a   Northeast was down 3.1 percent, the Southeast was down
        strong rebound in visits in the Northeast (up 27 percent),   15.3 percent, and the Midwest was down 19 percent from
        smaller gains in the Southeast (up 6 percent) and Pacific   the five-season average.





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