SAM Magazine—Santa Fe, N.M., May 16, 2016—New Mexico's nine alpine and four Nordic ski areas saw 938,000 skier visits during the 2015-16 season, up 3 percent year-over-year and 20 percent above the previous five-year average of 783,000. Ski area visitation contributed $524 million to the local economy, almost $17 million more than in 2014-15, according to Ski New Mexico.

Ski New Mexico executive director George Brooks attributed the season's growth to the efforts of the New Mexico Tourism Department, which has stepped up its support of the state's winter recreation opportunities in recent years.

And it could have been even better: Brooks said the state might have reached one million visitors if the prolific early-season snowfall had continued throughout the winter, according to the Associated Press.

“We started off November, December, January with great big numbers and lots of snow, and then it quit snowing and people quit skiing as much,” Brooks told The Santa Fe New Mexican. Skiing was good all season, Brooks said, but after regular snowfalls stopped, many people living in New Mexico's warmer and drier regions stopped thinking about skiing.

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