The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Vail Resorts sensing downturn in expected spring skiers
By Mark Reaman
While the coronavirus is impacting lives throughout the world it hasn’t yet appeared to have an impact on the tourism business in Crested Butte. Before it was announced Tuesday that a woman in Gunnison was under self-quarantine with symptoms of the virus, local experts reported no major impact from people afraid of travelling here.
Rural Transportation Authority (RTA) airline consultant Kent Myers reported to local officials on Monday that reservations continue to be booked and are trending higher than last year. “It was a good week for reservations,” he wrote in his email. “There was a 518 total seat increase for all markets and for the remaining booking reports in 2018-19 there were only reductions due to cancellations. Both DEN and DFW had modest growth last week. To date, I see no impact caused by the coronavirus.”
Tourism and Prosperity Project executive director John Norton said overall ski industry figures indicate there has been a rise in cancellations as a result of the virus or because the stock market plunge is impacting people’s personal finances. He said, however, that anecdotally he is seeing plenty of visitors at the resort. “The Mountaineer Square parking garage is full of out-of-state SUVs this morning,” he said Monday.
Paula Dietrich of Crested Butte Lodging and Property Management said Monday that people are thinking about the situation but not bailing. “We have had no one wanting to cancel their reservations, but new bookings did drop off in the last one and a half weeks as compared to last year,” she said. “Lack of snow could be a factor for new rentals being down as we don’t have as much as last year, but I think there is also people’s hesitation with the virus. We have had people asking about cancellation policies for summer.”
CBMR senior communications specialist Will Shoemaker said Vail Resorts is monitoring the situation. “Crested Butte Mountain Resort is open and operating normally. The health and wellbeing of our guests and employees is our top priority,” he said Tuesday. “As a part of that commitment, Vail Resorts is closely monitoring statements and updates from local, state and federal health agencies on cases of coronavirus (COVID-19), and we will follow their guidance and recommendations as needed. At Crested Butte, and across all of our resorts, we are continuing to take all appropriate precautions recommended by local health agencies and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This includes properly disinfecting our facilities and ensuring our employees take all appropriate precautions.”
In a Vail Resorts financial press release it was noted, “In the week ended March 8, 2020, the Company saw a marked negative change in performance from the prior week, with destination skier visits modestly below expectations. The Company expects this trend to continue and potentially worsen in upcoming weeks.”
When reached Tuesday there was no change of view from those we contacted for this story.
