Snowfalls’s Impact on Ski Market Hotels
Snowfall drives travelers to mountain resorts each ski season, but to what degree, at which resorts, and how far in advance isn't as clear. What is the correlation between snowfall and hotel occupancy, and how does the economy factor in?
Many tourism and leisure hospitality markets depend in large part on environmental conditions to drive demand, with visitation up or down depending on whether certain conditions do or don't exist. Hotels in tropical resort markets, for example, can depend on demand drawn to the sunshine and beaches--except in the midst of a hurricane or monsoon. Anomalous meteorological factors like heavy rains or storm winds may also affect travelers' longer-term perceptions about a place, and this can negatively impact hotel demand.
Ski resorts face a similar situation, namely, how does a season's snowfall impact visitation levels? The common assumption is that heavy snows mean more visitors, and it's certainly true that when a winter storm approaches, eager skiers check their phones for how much new powder will fall at their favorite resort. But how far does the effect extend? Can one season's bounty of snowfall stimulate bookings into the following year?
