Study: Ski industry a $564 mil. boon for Tahoe
By Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee
The ski industry generated $564.5 million worth of economic impact on Lake Tahoe’s economy last season, according to a study by San Francisco State University.
The study of the 2013-14 ski season comes as the Tahoe region struggles with a long slide in tourism, the result of the rise of Indian casinos in Northern California. Tahoe has been trying to reinvent itself as an international tourism destination, and the study notes that overseas travelers accounted for 3.4 percent of skier visits.
If the Skiing tickets were about half the price they are now there would be Thousands of more people coming to the Tahoe area, only the rich can afford to Ski anymore. Sad but true.
Not a article that was well researched, if so he would know that our tourism is increasing this year was the most in Hotel total revenue collected in over 10 years. January thru March were a little soft but not by much.
‘Wondering’ I totally disagree. 100 bucks for 8 hours of entertainment is a great value. Plus resorts discount 2 of 3, 3 of 4 days etc. And a season pass is a great value ! Still too much? Skinning is always free!
Why not half price mid-week when the resorts are
empty anyway or even cheaper if it brings in
the causal skier for a day or two.
The passes are a good deal–unless you want to ski on a date that’s been blacked-out. Then they hit you for another $50 after you already committed and gave them money for a pass the previous summer! Long gone are the days you could give the lift person a beer or a joint and they’d let you hop on.
A beer or a joint ? Lol ! Sounds great, but that’s why the mom and pop operations went under. Bad management. Unfortunately everything goes corporate at some point. My old ski hill back in Vermont was Mad River Glen. It’s a co-op, owned by the skiing public. Only single chair left in America! Maybe that’s the answer.
“The single largest category of spending was food and drink, a total of $98.2 million. Lift tickets and passes came in second at $90.9 million.”
The question is …….why is the City of South Lake Tahoe subsidizing Heavenly with busses and drivers when they’re making a huge chunk of that $90 million ?
Blue wire-
you seem to be totally discounting the costs of skiing with a family. Skiing is not nearly the middle class sport attraction it once was. Ski area food is a big expense too when skiing with family.
When my kids were little, we brown bagged it, and sometimes were hassled when using tables.
Between snow making and the costs of liability insurance to protect against ambulance chasing lawyers, and the mega grooming programs skiers not demand the cost structure is quite high for a ski area.
Cranky. “Amubulance chasing lawyers?” Really? After what happened at Squaw Valley in ’78 on the old tram? I will refresh your memory. The cable came loose which caused the tram to drop about 75 feet then whip back up so that the cable could cut through the tram and 4 people. It took 10 hours to rescue the other 31 that were injured. Imagine that 10 hours of waiting for a minute.
The accident and Lawyers forced old man Cushing to finally start upgrading the joint after years of neglect. And the complete Collapse of the old 1960 Ice Skating Rink in ’82 helped too.
I really do not miss the old KT chair one bit, that thing was out and out spooky to get on.
Toxic, as a point of information, the buses and drivers are run by the Tahoe Transportation District, not the City, and Heavenly pay $850,000 per year to TTD to offset the costs of the ski shuttles.