January 2012 Retail Summary
Overall occupancy in January, 2012 for Aspen was up 4.3% over last year and up 8.8% in Snowmass. As of January 31st, February's overall occupancy was pacing 3.9% ahead of last year for Aspen and 12.2% ahead for Snowmass. Occupancy for the first week of March is pacing behind last year.
Aspen
MARKET OVERVIEW Despite a few minor hiccups, economic and consumer metrics continued to work in favor of destination travel during January, with almost all sectors behaving themselves. While the Dow Jones continued its strong momentum gain and the unemployment rate surprised even the most optimistic forecasters, consumer confidence declined moderately, though not enough to raise red flags. However, our primary support mechanism - marketable snow - has been absent for the first time in several years at a majority of destinations and this has created a new set of challenges. In recent years we've had epic snow to carry us through tough economic times and now we look to the economy to carry us through tough snow times. However, it seems that "good economy / bad snow" scenario may not be as supportive as "bad economy / good snow" was. Over the
[more...]
