Winter sports feed – 27 Dec – SKI Feed

7°EAST
11045 V 9875 DVB-S2 8PSK
MPEG 4 – 4:2:0 – HDTV
ID: S. Caterina
Comment: SKI FEED
CW: 3F 0E 8B D8 97 FD 07 9B

Image may be NSFW.
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7°EAST
11057 V 9875 DVB-S2 8PSK
MPEG 4 – 4:2:0 – HDTV
ID: Fi01 ATORF WEIN
Comment: SKI FEED
CW: 6C 6A F9 CF 28 D6 0C 0A

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

WINTER SPORTS RECENT NEWS

The wraps are off most of the presents by now. Did you get the new ski equipment you were hoping for? Was it a new snowboard? Ready to hit the slopes? You won’t be alone. In terms of winter sports, skiing and snowboarding are far and away the most important facet of winter in Vermont.

Parker Riehl is executive director of the Vermont Ski Areas Association. He keeps his finger on the pulse of the industry. He smiles broadly whenever the flakes start to fall and temperatures get into snow-making territory, and well he should. His industry makes up approximately 36 percent of Vermont’s $2.5 billion tourism industry. “There is about $900 million in direct spending on skiing and snowboarding in the winter,” says Riehl. “Add to that another $600 million in indirect spending, and you get an idea of how important winter sports are to Vermont.”

One very important fact in all of that spending is that most of it represents dollars imported to Vermont. “This is not money that is churning in the Vermont economy already. These are imported dollars. Those dollars in turn help to move our economy.” According to Riehl, 80 percent of skiers are from out-of-state, including second homeowners. “The actual split on dollars spent is about 90 percent from out-of-state, the other 10 percent is from Vermonters.

Peel back the onion a little and you find that two thirds to three quarters of the spending occurs off of the slopes, directly in local communities. There are 20 Alpine ski areas and 30 Nordic areas in Vermont. That adds up to a lot of visitors; a lot of schussing and telemark skiing. Riehl said that full winter ski operations employe about 12,000 people from Jay Peak to Mount Snow. The industry is also responsible for about 22,000 additional jobs from restaurants to lodging to clothing sales to car rentals and everything in between in the local communities servicing the mountains.

“Once you cross into Vermont from any direction, you are never much more than about 45 minutes to a ski area,” said Riehl.

The “Benchmark Study of the Impact of Visitor Spending on the Vermont Economy: 2013,” conducted by the University of Vermont (https://www.uvm.edu/~snrvtdc/publications/vermont-tourism-benchmark-study-2013.pdf) provides incredible insight to the tourism industry. The study points out that the expenditures in Vermont by visitors also provide significant tax revenue to the state and to municipalities. In 2013, taxes generated by the tourism industry totaled $385 million. While it does not identify that which is specifically due to skiing, it does paint a positive picture of the impact tourism has.

The study concludes that, “The tourism and recreation industries are an important part of the Vermont economic landscape. This report identifies more than $3 billion of economic activity each year supported by the employment of more than 30,000 Vermont workers and providing hundreds of millions of tax dollars to support state and local government programs.”

So the next time you are out on the slopes, or on one of the 5,000 miles of trail groomed by Vermont Association of Snow Travelers (VAST), pause for a moment and consider that not only are you getting some great exercise, having a lot of fun and enjoying the beautiful vistas, you are also supporting one of the most important industries in the state.

On behalf of the members, the board of directors and staff of the Central Vermont Chamber of Commerce, I wish all a very happy and successful New Year.