SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, June 16, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Utah ski resorts have announced that the 2020-21 winter season was record-breaking in many respects for all 15 Utah resorts, despite COVID-19’s impact.
Utah ski resorts saw a record-breaking total of 5,301,766 skier days in the 2020-21 winter season, said a news release from Ski Utah.
Utah’s skier days for 2020-21 were up 3.44% over the previous record-breaking season of 5.13 million skier days in the 2018-19 season.
“Going into the season, our metric for success was simply getting open and remaining open,” said Nathan Rafferty, president of Ski Utah. “However, throughout the season it became clear that skiing provided a respite from the day to day realities of the pandemic and allowed an option for guests to safely socialize outside. Our resorts came together to implement a variety of COVID protocols that allowed each of our resorts to not only remain open through the end of the season but also break our existing Utah skier day record. While 2020-21 looked different in terms of guest experience, it was our best year yet.”
According to the National Ski Areas Association, the ski industry is a major contributor to the United States economy with over $55 billion in retail spend and over 533,000 jobs across all 50 states.
Rafferty added: “While many of the resorts saw record-breaking seasonal numbers, most of Utah’s resorts did not see any individual day records broken. With many skiers working remotely, it’s clear that guests were able to enjoy more off-peak skiing, like weekday afternoon visits or short lunch time trips to the mountains. In addition, Utah benefits from a variety of multi-resort season passes that allow locals and visitors alike to spread out their skiing across all 15 resorts throughout the state, rather than flocking to only a few resorts.”
The 2020-2021 season ranked as follows:
|
Season |
Skier Days* |
All-Time Rank (Last 10 yrs.) |
|
2020-21 |
5,301,766 |
1 |
|
2019-20 |
4,392,698 |
5 |
|
2018 – 19 |
5,125,441 |
2 |
|
2017 – 18 |
4,145,321 |
8 |
|
2016 – 17 |
4,584,658 |
3 |
|
2015 – 16 |
4,457,575 |
4 |
|
2013 – 14 |
4,148,573 |
7 |
|
2012 – 13 |
4,018,812 |
10 |
|
2010 – 11 |
4,247,510 |
6 |
|
2009-10 |
4,070,822 |
9 |
