Out west, ski resort bookings are "down," and while
most officials will not say exactly how much, Thanksgiving
business was "below average," according to Steve Raabe of
the DENVER POST. In addition, resort officials say that
reservations for Christmas and New Year's "are lagging."
Some resorts have been forced to "postpone opening dates and
limit the number of lifts they're operating." Hotel and
condo operators in the mountains "are offering discounts and
incentives that might have stayed shelved if snowpack was
near average." Vail Resorts spokesperson Paul Witt: "We've
seen prices come down, particularly over the Christmas
holiday. Some hotels have come down as much as 50 percent
from their (published rates)." Among the reasons
contributing to the dip are "uncertainty over the scope of
Y2K problems" and "unseasonably warm temperatures in other
parts of the country [that] may have dampened skier
interest" (DENVER POST, 11/28). In VT, "many resorts
offered partial refunds and vouchers in compensation" for
poor conditions over the Thanksgiving weekend (AP, 11/28).
ING Barings' Leisure Analyst Barry Rothberg, on ski stocks:
"Ski stocks have been flattish after coming off a poor
season last year and have not yet moved up in anticipation
of a better season this year. .... If we do get normalized
snow -- not a great snow year, but a normal snow year -- the
numbers should rebound smartly" (CBS MarketWatch, 11/26).
