Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Kelly Glasscock / Associated Press Ian Ramage, left, and Erin Moran ride up Eagle's Rest ski lift at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Jackson, Wyo. They traveled to Jackson from England for a ski vacation.

Weak dollar attracts skiers from Europe to U.S. resorts

The influx boosts ski areas hit hard after September 11 and the Iraq war.

By John Miller / Associated Press

Kelly Glasscock / Associated Press Ian Ramage and Erin Moran collect their skis at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, which has seen more European visitors. Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

BOISE, Idaho -- Ian Morris usually heads for Chamonix, France, this time of year. The ski resort in Mont Blanc's shadow is a favorite for Morris, a resident of the island of Guernsey off the south coast of England.

Recently, however, Morris was skiing at Jackson Hole near Jackson, Wyo. The strong British pound -- up 20 percent against the U.S. dollar since December 2002 -- is one reason he's checking out Rocky Mountain snow for the first time. It makes his U.S. vacation much cheaper.

"Obviously the pound doesn't hurt," Morris said from his Jackson hotel room.

The same is true for continental Europeans, whose euro is at a record high against the dollar. Currencies from countries including Australia and Canada have also advanced, with the dollar falling steadily on worries over U.S. trade and budget deficits.

In the process, U.S. ski areas and the publicly traded companies that own them say they're benefiting -- they expect an uptick in foreign visitors with plenty of money to spend. It's a welcome cash infusion for an industry whose largest companies lost millions following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and the Iraq war.

According to the Travel Industry Association of America, international arrivals are expected to rise 7.5 percent in 2004 and another 5 percent next year, due in part to European bargain hunters.

To keep up the momentum, American ski resorts have focused their marketing on these international guests. Officials at resorts across the country say they're boosting the amount of money they spend to lure skiers from abroad.

Killington in Vermont, the largest resort in the East, has seen a 10 to 12 percent rise in reservations for the winter, most of it from Britons. Roughly 6 percent of Killington's annual business comes from Europe.

"I think the U.K. is a natural market for New England," said Bill Stenger, president of Vermont's Jay Peak Resort along the Canadian border. "The U.K. folks like our terrain. They like the fact that they're in an English-speaking environment and they feel like they get treated very, very well when they come to Vermont."

The increased strength of the Canadian dollar has also helped. Half of Jay Peak's annual business comes from Canadians.

Resorts love international guests because although foreign skiers account for less than a tenth of all lift tickets sold in the United States, they often stay longer than their American counterparts -- up to 10 days -- and leave plenty of dollars at hotels, shops and malls while they're here.

"They typically spend just as much, if not more per day, as a U.S. destination skier," said Kelly Ladyga, a spokeswoman for Colorado-based Vail Resorts, which expects a second year of growth in international visitors that exceeds 10 percent.

That doesn't mean all of North America is pleased with the currency trend.

In 2003, international visits to ski resorts in Canada fell nearly a third as the Canadian dollar rose 20 percent against the U.S. dollar. It rose another 7.5 percent in 2004.

It couldn't come at a better time for U.S. ski areas. Two of the biggest, American Skiing Co. and Vail Resorts, have lost $125 million combined in two years and are trying to lure skiers from just about anywhere to pad their finances. Skier visits in the United States over last 25 years have stagnated, rising on average less than a percent a year.

But in a year when they expect to benefit from more international guests, Vail's shares are up 57 percent. American has sold resorts including Heavenly at Lake Tahoe to raise cash and stabilize finances.