Question: Can a good snow year and strong ski season overcome a sharp downturn in consumer confidence, stubborn inflation, a turbulent stock market, tariffs, and a looming trade war?
Normally, a good ski season like the one we had this winter translates into strong season pass sales for the following season.
As Christopher Nicolson, president and CEO of the Canada West Ski Areas Association, noted: “History clearly demonstrates how powerful snow is as a motivator, so there is generally strong market confidence and demand following a good snow year.”
Operative word: “Generally.”
After several straight months of falling consumer confidence and growing recession talk, history may not be the best guide. But then again, this is the ski industry. Optimism abounds.
Weather: Big Rebound
“We have had a very good season. All departments, all products are up double digits,” said Michael Ballingall, SVP of sales and marketing at British Columbia’s Big White. “We had early snow. That worked its magic. The locals came out in bigger numbers than ever before. Vancouver was huge, Toronto was huge with new nonstop service, as well as the U.S. market. Spending in restaurants, ski school, and retail are all up.”
Whitefish, Mont., president Nick Polumbus said the resort had its second highest ever skier-visit numbers this season. And the momentum continues. “Summer reservations are strong,” he added. “I feel optimistic.”
Bouncing back. The Northeast also had good snow and a strong season. Ditto in the Midwest.
Compared to last winter, when snow was rare and temps were warm, “we’re having a more normal season,” said Midwest Ski Areas Association executive director Bo Bigelow. “Everybody’s up.”
“This is the best winter most of our Midwest audiences have seen in recent memory, with more snow and colder temps persisting throughout the winter season,” echoed Nicholas Niebes, director of marketing at Indy Pass. “We’re seeing our current pass holders take advantage of the Indy Pass, exploring new-to-them resorts more frequently. Our renewal rates for these areas have increased during our most recent pass sale. It’s a clear sign Midwest skiers and riders are feeling re-energized to visit new places and ski more.”
In Quebec, where season pass sales were down anywhere from 10 to 40 percent for this season following the bad snow year in 2023-24, Yves Juneau, president of the Quebec Ski Areas Association, expects an opposite result after this winter.
“It is too early to notice any trend in sales for next season, but everyone is confident that the weather will have a positive impact on future sales,” he said.
Economy: Conscious Pricing
If good snow and weather usually have a positive impact on sales for the following season, what about current economic conditions? And how will they affect pricing? Multi-mountain passes, including Epic, Ikon, Indy, and Mountain Collective, have all raised prices for 2025-26—marginally, but above the rate of inflation. What are other resorts doing?
“We are continuing with our ‘Mission Affordable’ program aimed at either freezing, reducing or putting only very moderate increases on many of our services and products,” said Dehlia Wright, communications director at Jay Peak, Vt.
“The CPI (Consumer Price Index) is indicating the U.S. consumer is hurting, and while that extends to the businesses within that same community, there’s only so much of an increase we feel we can put on the back of our guests. We’re willing to take smaller margins in the short term,” she said. “We are experiencing cost increases across the board, but we try and take as long a term view of our relationship with Jay Peakers as possible, and try not to care, quarter-to-quarter, about posting increases to our bottom line.”
Balancing costs. At Big White, Ballingall said the resort froze 2025-26 season pass prices for a limited time. People were able to purchase a season pass for last year’s price up until April 30. “Beginning June 1, our traditional launch date, we will increase prices $60 for an adult pass.”
He said day- and multi-ticket pricing will go up between 3 and 5 percent, and Big White will increase package holidays by the inflation rate. “The cost of goods are up, supply chains are up, so we’re just trying to keep pace,” he said.
Kendra Scurfield, VP of marketing, brand, and communications at Banff Sunshine Village in Alberta, said prices for next year had not been set by press time but any changes will be “mild.”
“The economy is definitely a factor,” she said. “We’re going to do more communication around pass benefits.”
Tom Chasse, CEO of Schweitzer, Idaho, said the resort will likely “hold the line” on local pricing. He noted that as an Alterra-owned resort, Schweitzer also offers an Ikon product with full access to the resort.
At Whitefish, Polumbus said the resort “always has a modest increase every year, so we don’t have to have any big correction.”
In Quebec, Juneau said the “consensus was that factoring in the economy and discretionary expenses, ski areas are very hesitant to go above a 3 percent price increase for next season.”
Trade War: Wild Card
On-again, off-again tariffs and an ongoing trade war are not only affecting prices but consumer attitudes as well, especially on the Canadian side. What does that mean for resorts who benefit from cross-border visitation—both U.S. and Canadian? And how will that affect season pass sales?
Most say it is too early to tell. Others note the currency exchange rate (about 40 percent favorable for the U.S. dollar) will have more impact than tariffs.
“It’s too early to know what potential impacts may result from the trade dispute,” Nicolson said. “The U.S. / Canada currency exchange provides an attractive benefit for U.S. guests, and the exchange rate differential is expected to increase further. Especially in states closer to the border, there has traditionally been some familiarity and understanding of the exchange advantage.”
Americans headed to Canada ... Ballingall at Big White confirmed this. “Our business out of the USA was up over 45 percent as a result of new nonstop service (into Kelowna) from Los Angeles and more nonstop service from Seattle,” he said. “Plus, when you have 40 percent off with a strong American dollar, all of a sudden you become very attractive for American skiers.”
On the flip side, he said more Canadians stayed in Canada. “We’ve seen our Club 65 base (seniors) coming back from the USA and skiing more here. We normally have a Club 65 pass member pick up their pass in early to mid-March. We saw them picking up their package passes in late January or early February. This is a definite change.
“How will that translate to domestic pass sales? Even if we remain the same as last year, we’re very happy with the number. We need to build more parking lots!”
... And Canadians to the U.S. At Jay, Wright said the resort was expecting to see a downturn in Canadian visitors this season as a result of the trade dispute, but didn’t. “Quebec Break Week was a record for both overnight and day guests,” she said, and in mid-March, Ontario Break was shaping up to be the same.
The future, however, might be more uncertain.
A “buy local” mindset. Juneau said market indicators show that Canadians will avoid traveling to the States in the next year. (For example, a March survey by Canadian market researcher Leger found that 59 percent of Canadians said they’re less likely to visit the U.S. this year than in 2024.)
“It’s hard to say if it will have an impact on season pass sales for Quebec resorts, but the mood is definitely to support local businesses here,” said Juneau. “So, I would be tempted to think that Quebec ski areas will benefit from the tariffs war since travel intentions show that people will stay close to home.”
Scurfield echoed that: “There is a lot of frustration with the U.S. government. Canadians are united in wanting to support Canada and buy local.”
Whatever the economic impact of tariffs, the bad feelings they are causing between the countries is regrettable.
“Canadians saved us during the Great Recession (2008),” said Whitefish’s Polumbus. “Their dollar was so strong, they got us through that period. They kept coming through the oil economy of 2015-19. Then Covid shut down everything. We went from about 20 percent Canadians to zero. We’re slowly bouncing back to about 4-5 percent Canadian visitors.”
Polumbus said he’s not sure what the future will bring, but notes that the resort’s domestic market is more stable than it was 17 years ago.
Resort loyalty. At Indy Pass, Niebes is more sanguine.
“I think it’s too early to tell (the impact of tariffs),” he said. “One thing that we do know is that our audience is full of skiers/snowboarders who travel to Canada from the U.S., and vice versa. There’s a deep sense of loyalty for many of these resorts by our pass holders, and I suspect they will continue to support their favorite ski areas across the border as they have over the last few years.”
Only time will tell.
