Locals and day trippers were back in force at Vail Resorts mountains this winter, helping the company post it’s first profit of the financial year.
CEO Kirsten Lynch tells investors the company made $245.5 million in the second quarter, December through February, up 12% percent from the same quarter last year.
In the first quarter the company was down 1.5%, losing $2.7 million in the lean months before ski season kicks into high gear.
Lynch says ski school, dining and ticket windows were making money this Christmas and into the mid-winter holidays, despite an overall drop in skier visits.
“Destination guest visitation at our western North American mountain resorts was below prior year levels, which we believe was driven by the continued shift in historical visitation patterns across the ski industry to later in the ski season, which increased after challenging early season conditions in the prior year,” Lynch said in her quarterly report. “Local guest visitation was in line with expectations as conditions across our North American resorts improved from the prior year and returned to more typical conditions.”
Lynch hopes spring break makes up for these disappearing overnight guests.
But numbers from Breckenridge Tourism Office do not agree. A report from earlier this month shows bookings are down 9.5% through end of the month.