In the 2001/2002 ski season, 493 ski areas operated in 37 states on 91,000
acres of public land with a total of 54.4 million skier visits generating
$3.6 billion in revenue. A skier visit (or skier day) represents one person
visiting a ski area for all or any part of a day or night for the purpose
of skiing or snowboarding. Generally, ski areas in the U.S. are divided
into five regions: the Northeast, Midwest, Southeast, Rocky Mountain,
and Pacific West.
The table below shows the number of ski areas and skier visits (in millions)
in each of these regions in the 2001/2002 season. Source of the data is:
Kottke National End of Season Survey 2001/2002 Final Report, July 2002;
prepared by the National Ski Areas Association. The table of contents
for NSAA's industry resource guide can be found at www.nsaa.org/nsaa2002/resource_guide/cart/.
|
areas |
visits |
Northeast |
132 |
12 |
Midwest |
136 |
6.6 |
Southeast |
56 |
4.6 |
Rocky Mountain |
93 |
18 |
Pacific West |
76 |
12 |
Overall, ski areas experienced a 5.1 percent decrease in skier visits
during the 2001/2002 season compared to the 2000/2001 season. This decrease
in skier visits was attributed primarily to the September 11, 2001 terrorist
attacks and low average snowfall for the season. Nevertheless, the 2001/2002
ski season showed the third highest total number of skier visits in the
past 20 years.
This topic hub is based primarily on information provided in a handbook
titled "Greening Your Ski Area - A Pollution Prevention Handbook".
The handbook was released in January 2000 and is highly recommended reading.
It provides environmental improvement strategies for on-mountain operations,
as well as for management functions that can impact environmental performance.
The handbook was a project of the Colorado Department of Public Health
and Environment Pollution Prevention Program, with funding through the
Environmental Protection Agency. It was produced by Tetra Tech EM Inc.
It can be found in its entirety at: http://peakstoprairies.org/p2bande/skigreen/.
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