Western Summer Visits Continue Upward Trend

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16 July 2014

Push to The Latest: No

SAM Magazine—Denver, July 16, 2014—Occupancy and revenue for the month of June rose compared to year-ago levels, up 9 and 14 percent, respectively, according to DestiMetrics. This marks the 13th year-over-year monthly increase in occupancy during the past 14 months; revenues have risen year-over-year for 14 months.

DestiMetrics data come from a sample of approximately 290 property management companies in 19 mountain destination communities across Colorado, Utah, California, Nevada, Oregon and Wyoming.

“The well-established pattern of steady growth in the summer season is continuing,” observed Ralf Garrison, director of DestiMetrics. “The stronger emphasis mountain resorts are giving to their summer events calendars, their growing number of on-mountain activities and attractions, and increased commitment to summer marketing campaigns appears to be giving many of our resorts a significant boost in what was once their ‘off season' attendance and revenues.”

Barring weather or economic catastrophe, occupancy at mountain resorts will continue to run ahead of last year through October. As of June 30, past occupancy and future reservations for May through October were up 6.2 percent, with revenues up 11 percent compared to year-ago levels.

“With several years of consistent growth in both winter and summer, many of our mountain lodging properties have now recovered from the Great Recession and are now posting record business,” Garrison concluded.