After decent winter ski season, Jackson Hole resorts look for better summer tourist season

Jackson Hole yearns for summer after good winter

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The state’s main tourist destination — Jackson Hole — is coming off a decent winter ski season, and signs so far point to an improved summer tourist season.

Jackson Hole’s two largest ski resorts say the past winter season was successful, especially given the poor economy and a delayed snowfall.

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort posted the fourth-highest visitation level in its 45-year history with 413,684 skiers this past winter. It was the fifth consecutive year the resort recorded more than 400,000 skier visits.

The strong numbers came even though snowfall was below normal leading up to the lucrative Christmas holidays, resort spokesman Zahan Billimoria said.

“For us to achieve that 413,000 benchmark despite our Christmas result was very, very good,” he said.

Shannon Brooks Hamby, spokeswoman for Grand Targhee Resort, said the resort doesn’t release skier numbers but last winter’s skier visits exceeded the 2008-09 season’s numbers and the resort’s expectations. Strong support from local and regional skiers helped, she said.

“And we even in low snow years still get a lot of snow, so that puts us in a really good position both locally and nationally to get attention for a great snowfall,” Hamby said.

Grand Targhee and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort offered promotions to bring skiers to the slopes.

“That really did incentivize family and group travel to the area,” Billimoria said.

While not providing specific numbers, Dana Ahrensberg, general manager of Snow King Resort in Jackson, said Thursday that his resort’s winter business was down, but “summer 2010 is looking a lot better than last year.”

The optimism for the approaching season is being driven by visitor inquiries. The Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce says its visitor inquiries are up about 13 percent in both March and April.

“I think that because it looks like national park visitation is going to continue to be strong, we’re in a good location to draw in some good summer crowds that come through this region,” Hamby said.

Nearby Yellowstone National Park normally draws more than 3 million visitors every year, the vast majority in the summer.

Both Grand Targhee and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort have expanded their summer activities with mountain biking, and Grand Targhee is offering several music events this summer.

Billimoria said visitors to Jackson Hole resorts are staying longer than they used to during the summer.