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Current Economic Condition= Less skiing?

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eurotune2
Posts: 1450 - Karma: 10
so with all this non sense in the US so far this year, i have been wondering whether we are going to see less people at the resorts this winter. This would be okay for me because i am going to ski no matter what, and thats shorter lines but i have already seen the price of a lift ticket raise at the resorts around me. The ski industry has to be feeling the sting just like the rest of the markets, especially with skiing being such a discretionary/Luxury item to most.

Is anyones skiing on here being directly affected by this?
Who thinks well have less people at the mountain?

Discuss
Oct 17 2008 1:07PM
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Alex_G
Posts: 11902 - Karma: 1,019
when the american dollar is down, as it is right now, there will be more tourism, and for us that's gonna suck running into euro gapers a lot this year.
Oct 17 2008 1:12PM
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eurotune2
Posts: 1450 - Karma: 10
ahh good point, they can be entertaining too
Oct 17 2008 1:18PM
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powderlvr23
Posts: 163 - Karma: 11
for the majority of us on here skiing is recession proof......there's no way we'll stop. and the guy above me is right. low $$ = more tourism = more chances to take money from the euro gapers.
Oct 17 2008 1:18PM
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jack.whelan
Posts: 1504 - Karma: 122
hmmm, not sure. everybody is feeling the pinch. i dont think there will be any more people being able to afford to go to the US.

air fares have boomed recently, then there is the oil fuel surcharge on top, which can be as much as $500. then, inflated lift ticket prices and general costs whilst abroad. that combined with the fact that the world's fiscal state is in turmoil = not many expensive holidays to the states. to me, it would make more sense to hop in my small eurocar and head to the alps or eastern europe, not the states.
Oct 17 2008 1:18PM
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Klick_2_klaim
Posts: 3396 - Karma: 25
NO, most of the skiing public still work, still earn the same or more income, and still want to take holidays to get away from the horrible news everywhere.

In fact I would venture to guess more people on the slopes.
Oct 17 2008 1:20PM
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ATLskier
Posts: 8203 - Karma: 406
Im going to be skiing a lot less this year. I wouldn't be going out west this year if I wasn't hooked up with free hotel and lift tickets and a flight voucher with delta.

Even if the economy was better, my situation wouldnt change much. I just dont have much money. Gas prices are killing me more. I have to drive 4.5 hours to get to a decent park, and Im often driving up alone, which just takes a lot of money.
Oct 17 2008 1:22PM
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eurotune2
Posts: 1450 - Karma: 10
how do you figure that skiing is recession proof?... I am not sure that anything other than the basic survival needs is immune to a recession, outside the filthy rich that is.
Oct 17 2008 1:23PM
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jack.whelan
Posts: 1504 - Karma: 122
you are right. people are earning the same if not more, in terms of absolute price (i.e. one earns $30,000 a year). However, the problem is when you look at the relevant price. sure i am still earning the same amount, but if i am paying $2 a gallon instead of $1, paying $1 per lb of apples instead of 0.50, then i have a lot less money. people are still just as rich as they were before, but their wealth has been cut significantly.
Oct 17 2008 1:28PM
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eurotune2
Posts: 1450 - Karma: 10
^ this is what i am talking about, as the price of things go up will skiing get pushed to the back burner for a lot of families? I think it might, but i am hoping for the best and for new people to keep joining our scene even though it is one of the more expensive hobbies/past times/sports
Oct 17 2008 1:38PM
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Malcolm
Posts: 15951 - Karma: 9,451
i didnt read the thread but ill be doing more skiing if anything. the gas is way cheaper
Oct 17 2008 1:41PM
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SkiWest
Posts: 90 - Karma: 14

I don't see how the current economic downfall (worldwide) will attract Europeans to America, Canada etc.

I'm from the UK, and it's hit us hard too. A lot of people I know can't go skiing this year, not even to Europe, as fuel, chalets, hotels, lift passes, food, drink etc has all gone up.

The cost of living in the UK is going up rapidly, so everyone's trying to save cash.

Oct 17 2008 2:11PM
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Alex_G
Posts: 11902 - Karma: 1,019
well, i didnt know how it was affecting the rest of the world (i'm not as educated on this situation as I should be), but when the US dollar is down usually the rest of the world likes to travel here since they can get more bang for their buck.
Oct 17 2008 2:20PM
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yourthemannowdog
Posts: 4541 - Karma: 313
Vactinon areas are going to benefit from the the Crisis, But you never know with fuel costs
Oct 17 2008 2:28PM
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SkierX
Posts: 16253 - Karma: 538
The way I see it, some resorts will benefit, others will suffer and lose skier visits while at the same time, others will see no effect.

Resorts closer to cities will see more business as people cut back on their transportation costs to ski.

Resorts in the West may see a decline in business due to high airline costs.

Resorts in the Northeast will benefit as more people choose to drive to the Northeast and stay for a week as they decide not to fly to Colorado and then drive 3 hours to skiing.

Just how I see it.
Oct 17 2008 2:30PM
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Legoman
Posts: 533 - Karma: 13

Hmm well the dollar has actually being doing quite well recently, its only 1.75ish (bank rate) to the pound) whearas for a while its been at around 1.9-2.0 dollars so its definatley not as good as it used to be and im not sure about this but its pretty similar with the euro, there have been better times but dont hold me to that i dont pay much attention to Euro:Dollar.

However from a UK perspective it makes way more sense to go to the states/canada still as the euro is so expensive for us. So its pretty much the same cost to go to europe for skiing as it is the states.

Its hard to say wether skiing will be affected that much only time will tell, generally the people that ski have more disposable income, and so can probably deal with the effects of a recession better. However skiing is not always a primary holiday for alot of people and so that might be one of the first things to go when cutting costs.

Oct 17 2008 2:31PM
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Dustin.
Posts: 13839 - Karma: 7,704
I don't think skiing is quite so expensive a venture as to be affected quite so much by the recession as something like the housing market.
Oct 17 2008 2:34PM
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b-kul
Posts: 4350 - Karma: 1,111
im gonna be skiing less.
Oct 17 2008 3:16PM
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SpaceTiger
Posts: 377 - Karma: 62

Major resorts will have so many european people coming in, I went to cape cod this summer amazing to see how many french, english, and random eurpoean people there because of a low dollar

Some resorts will see no difference, because the people who already ski/ snowboard there have the money, hopefully everything will be ok I'm pysced to shred

Oct 17 2008 3:30PM
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mind_Riot39
Posts: 583 - Karma: 73
I'm working in a shop right now and I went to a local ski swap to get rid of some of last years gear and people are definitely looking for cheap gear.  Nobody can really justify spending a few hundred bucks on a hobby, even one like skiing that people are so fanatical about.  Skiing is definitely an avoidable expenditure in most people's eyes so sales are gonna be down and I bet resorts will suffer too with less people buying season passes.
Oct 17 2008 3:36PM
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KABURGS
Posts: 31 - Karma: 10
I will be skiing more to keep my mind off this bullshit, it is the only thing that helps. 
Oct 17 2008 5:02PM
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DANETRON
Posts: 6671 - Karma: 137
for me it means cheaper gas which is one less thing keeping me away
Oct 17 2008 5:27PM
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JaySkier107
Posts: 288 - Karma: 29
yah less skiing for noobs so more pow for me! I dont see a problem
Oct 17 2008 7:00PM
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Kevski
Posts: 7056 - Karma: 2,785
Compared to the Canadian dollar the US dollar is much stronger than it has been in over a year, maybe even two years. So Canadians aren't going to be heading to the states for skiing or ski shopping as much. We have everything here and the prices are now relatively the same.
This will definitely affect the ski industries, because many americans will come to Canada to ski and buy gear because their money is worth more.
Oct 17 2008 8:45PM
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snowbladesforlife
Posts: 2033 - Karma: -3
If you are going out to Vail and dropping 10 grand for the week with your family, this isn't going to effect you.
Oct 17 2008 9:33PM
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CWAZY
Posts: 62 - Karma: 12
Where did you got this from?
Oct 17 2008 11:17PM
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sweso2
Posts: 225 - Karma: 18
This is correct.


Oct 17 2008 11:51PM
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Kevski
Posts: 7056 - Karma: 2,785
Just my deductions based on what's happened before and what the dollar is directly doing.

You might remember that this spring the Canadian dollar was worth up to $1.16 of the american dollar. It gradually dropped and then last week the canadian dollar dropped from about $0.94 to $0.84. Big changes mean different shopping styles for Canadians and Americans. The US shops were packed when our dollar was stronger, so I can only presume this will have a similar effect.
Oct 17 2008 11:51PM
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3ski6guy0
Posts: 9201 - Karma: 132
the economy doesnt affect my skiing at all. i want to go, its my life, so i make it happen
Oct 18 2008 12:56AM
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treesmann
Posts: 2675 - Karma: 49
nahhhh to ill still nbe skiin mad mtns all the time
Oct 18 2008 1:33AM
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A_Davis
Posts: 601 - Karma: 21
Nope dude i will ski even if im homeless. Skiing is my life
Oct 18 2008 1:36AM
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SkierX
Posts: 16253 - Karma: 538
http://www.saminfo.com/news/article.php?tid=3769

Per the NSAA...
Oct 18 2008 9:09AM
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Coalescent
Posts: 4871 - Karma: 2,063
my resort lowerd the price for the season pass from 499 to 399 and they have sold a ton more this season than ever..
Oct 18 2008 9:54AM
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stormtrooper
Posts: 1191 - Karma: 461

yes it does mean this.... ski shops in utah have caved, and a local resort has fired 15 people becuase of there huge loss in the stock market

Oct 18 2008 11:04AM
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alev
Posts: 7819 - Karma: 410
mountains should take advantage of this actually. if they lower prices, more people will be able to go, and they can still make more money. plus if they do european advertising, people with a stronger currency should come to the US to spend their money. they could literally take two american ski trips for the price of one.
Oct 18 2008 12:36PM
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griz_lee
Posts: 483 - Karma: 647
the mountain i was planing on shreding this winter was financed by Lehman Brothers and sence they went under the mountain had to fire 100+ people and might not even be completly open or open at all.
Oct 18 2008 1:29PM
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CWAZY
Posts: 62 - Karma: 12
sorry , my bad i misunderstood the sentence.
Oct 18 2008 2:03PM
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no_steeze
Posts: 23992 - Karma: 4,272
most of the people who ski have money and are working americans who probably can still afford to drop 70 bucks on a lift ticket. i think it should be about the same as most years
if not, mt snow will be shutting down, they dropped like 7 mil this summer so they will not make it back if tourism stops. we will still have to wait in line for 20 mins and explain how our skis aren't water skis on the lift
Oct 18 2008 2:35PM
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skier_boy26
Posts: 11295 - Karma: 502
well actually the dollar is the strongest its been against the euro in over a year, so that really isn't too applicable now. even the canadian dollar is well below 1 USD now like it should be, so that too doesn't quite apply now. i do think it is important to realize that what is happening is basically a pandemic, and not just isolated to the US.

but as for people within the US, i bet many of the big expensive resorts in, say, colorado, will feel this a bit more than most, just because they are so expensive for many; much of their patronage is probably feeling this more. I heard that many of the CO resorts have a sharp decline in reservations for the season so far compared to last season.

personally, with gas going down dramatically (for the time being), i bet i'll actually ski more this year than last... provided school doesnt kill me.
Oct 18 2008 2:42PM
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