Skiing Facilities
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Industry Structure, How Firms Opertate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Quarterly Insight, Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 300 skiing facilities firms in the US operate downhill, cross-country, or related skiing areas and/or operate equipment, such as ski lifts and tows. These establishments often provide food and beverage services, equipment rental services, and ski instruction services.
Highly Seasonal Demand
Peak ski season generally runs from mid-November through mid-April.
Struggle for Growth
The snow sport industry has struggled for about a decade to grow participation.
Industry size & Structure
The average skiing facility employs about 113 workers and generates $11 million annually.
- The skiing facility industry consists of about 300 firms that employ about 34,600 workers and generate $3.4 billion annually.
- Industry revenue is highly concentrated; the top 50 companies account for 86% of industry revenue. However, the resort market is fragmented; less than 20% of the roughly 460 ski resorts in the US are owned by companies with four or more properties.
- Large firms include Vail Resorts, Aspen Skiing, Alterra Mountain and Boyne Resorts.
Industry Forecast
Skiing Facilities Industry Growth
Source: Vertical IQ and Inforum
Coronavirus Update
Apr 23, 2022 - Ruling That Ended Traveler Mask Mandate Appealed
- The US Department of Justice appealed a late-April ruling that struck down the US government's rule requiring masks to be worn on public transportation, most notably aboard airplanes. Skiing facilities that remain open during the warmer months are likely to benefit if the rule is not reinstated. US District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle said that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) exceeded its statutory authority and failed to properly justify its decision for imposing the mandate. The CDC issued a statement saying that it continues to believe that requiring masks in indoor transportation settings "remains necessary for the public health." CDC will continue to monitor public health conditions to determine whether such an order remains necessary, according to a statement from the agency. "CDC believes this is a lawful order, well within CDC's legal authority to protect public health."
- The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is inching toward conclusion as 90% of two years’ worth of loans to small businesses nationwide have been forgiven. As of March 20, $708 billion has been forgiven, meaning that the recipients don’t have to repay the money, according to the latest data from the US Small Business Administration which manages PPP. Of that total, $209 billion — more than three-fourths, or 77% — of the $270.6 billion in PPP granted in 2021, the program’s second round — has been forgiven. That percentage stood at 63% in late December.
- Demand is strong for its traditional loan programs now that the Paycheck Protection Program is winding down. “In our footprint, we’re seeing a significant uptick in both the number of loans and dollars disbursed for our microloan and 504 loan programs,” said Angel Marschik, deputy district director for the SBA’s Western Pennsylvania District Office in Pittsburgh. “Our flagship 7(a) loan program numbers are on pace with second-quarter data from fiscal year 2021. As more lenders move away from PPP forgiveness processing, we anticipate those number to increase as well.”
- Vail Resorts sold 2.1 million pre-purchased tickets and season passes for the 2021/22 ski season. That’s a 76% increase over the 2019-20 season.
- People are reluctant to return to the labor force due to pandemic-related factors such as infection risks, infection-related illness, and a lack of affordable childcare, according to some experts. The labor force participation rate, a measure of those working or seeking work against the total population of working age, is 61.6%, according to the US Department of Labor. That is 1.7 percentage points below its pre-pandemic level and represents a decline of just under 3 million people since February 2020. Analysts at multinational commercial and investment bank Barclays say that the decline in labor force participation is being fed almost exclusively by married people who left the labor force in the late summer of 2020 and did not return. "This general profile itself gives us reason to believe that many of the missing workers will gradually transition back to work," the firm's analysts said.
- Small-business owners who received taxpayer-subsidized Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans of $150,000 or less during the coronavirus pandemic can seek forgiveness directly with the government through an online portal that was opened in August, allowing them to sidestep the private financial institutions that ran most aspects of the program for 14 months.
- Some businesses that took PPP loans in 2020 but don't apply for forgiveness soon will need to start making payments on the loan plus interest. The PPP loans will automatically convert to a standard loan at 1% interest if a small business does not apply to the SBA for forgiveness within 10 months of the end of the covered period under which they had to spend the money. For some businesses that received a loan when the PPP launched in April 2020, there was an eight-week covered period, which would put the forgiveness application deadline in the middle of July. For most loans operating under the more popular 24-week covered period, that meant a deadline in September 2021.
- The California legislature passed a bill which requires reopening hospitality companies to offer jobs first to employees who had their jobs at least six months prior to and were laid off because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill requires all hospitality companies to inform former employees as to when their jobs or positions will be available after the economic crisis. The bill now advances to Governor Gavin Newsom's office.
- Lindsey Leininger, public health expert, educator, and researcher at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, said that skiing isn't a huge risk of transmission. "Skiing is outdoors," Leininger, who is also an avid skier, told ABC News. "Skiing, you're pretty covered up, right? So you're not having close indoor social contact. So, it's all of the stuff around skiing that injects a lot of risks."
- Officials in many states have been reluctant to close skiing facilities during the coronavirus pandemic. “If we shut down the ski resort, how many people will take to the backcountry and get injured or trigger avalanches where the impact is greater? It’s a ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ situation,” said Grace Franklin, public health director for San Miguel County, CO. Skiing itself poses relatively little risk of coronavirus infection, said Kate Langwig, an epidemiologist at Virginia Tech. Gathering in the lodge or bar is by far the biggest COVID-19 risk associated with skiing, Langwig added.
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