Vail Resorts reports big early-season jump in skier visits, lift-ticket revenues

Early-season skier visits at Vail Resorts’ ski areas in the United States were up 11.1 percent compared to last season, according to a press release issued by the company on Wednesday, Jan. 13, and lift-ticket revenue was up 19.4 percent. Here’s the release:

BROOMFIELD, Colo., Jan. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE:  MTN) today reported certain ski season metrics for the comparative periods from the beginning of the ski season through January 10, 2016, and for the prior year period through January 11, 2015. The reported ski season metrics are for our U.S. mountain resorts, excluding results from Perisher and the urban ski areas of Afton Alps and Mt. Brighton. The data mentioned in this release is interim period data and is subject to fiscal quarter end review and adjustments.

• Season-to-date total lift ticket revenue at the Company’s U.S. mountain resorts, including an allocated portion of season pass revenue for each applicable period, was up 19.4% compared to the prior year season-to-date period.
• Season-to-date ancillary spending increased over prior year, with dining revenue up 14.3% and ski school revenue up 6.7% at the Company’s U.S. mountain resorts. Additionally, retail/rental revenue for U.S. resort store locations was up 9.1% compared to the prior year season-to-date period.
• Season-to-date total skier visits for the Company’s U.S. mountain resorts were up 11.1% compared to the prior year season-to-date period.

Commenting on the ski season to date, Rob Katz, Chief Executive Officer said, “We are very pleased that our 2015/2016 ski season is off to a strong start across our U.S. resorts.  While our results were clearly aided by a very strong rebound at our Tahoe resorts, we also saw solid revenue growth at our Colorado resorts and double digit revenue growth at Park City.  We are seeing strong growth in U.S. destination visits across our resorts that is being partially offset by a significant decline in international visitation, which we believe is due to the strong U.S. dollar, a trend we expect to continue throughout the season.”

Katz continued, “Our results through the holiday period continue to give us confidence in the outlook for the remainder of the year and while most of the season is still in front of us, based on current trends and snow conditions continuing, we expect to exceed the Resort Reported EBITDA guidance range we issued in September and will provide more details on our forecast in our March 2016 earnings release.”