Thursday, October 06, 2005

Record Number of Skiers/Riders Visit Breckenridge

Strong earnings and skier visit numbers at Breckenridge and Keystone resorts last season helped owner Vail Resorts post a record financial year.

Breckenridge saw a record number of skier visits, totaling 1,471,000.

Keystone also posted a record, tallying a skier visit total that was more than 8 percent better than the year before.

“Keystone is back in the elite club of the few North American ski resorts with over 1 million skier visits,” said chairman and chief executive officer Adam Aron.

Aron also cited early returns on season pass sales, which he described as “robust” — up about 22 percent in dollars over last year. He did not comment on lift ticket pricing for the coming season, but he did say, “We are very proud of the quality of the product that we offer our guests, and historically, we’ve not exactly been shy in charging our guests for that quality.”

Aron specifically cited new high-speed lifts being constructed at both Breckenridge and Beaver Creek, and said Vail Resorts “would continue to spend significant amounts of capital on upgrading grooming equipment as well as improving our snowmaking systems in order to provide a world-class experience across our resorts for our guests.”

Aron also mentioned new upgrades to rooms at the Keystone Lodge as further proof of that commitment.

Aron also mentioned the success of Breckenridge’s Mountain Thunder condominium project. He said the company had pre-sold all 34 of the condo units taken to market starting in February 2005, and he expected closings to occur between July and November of 2006.

No comments: