Advance bookings for Vail Resorts are down sharply, and the resort operator plans to continue pushing ski-vacation discounts to boost business, company executives said Tuesday. The resort operator posted a wider loss in the first quarter of fiscal 2009 compared with the prior year, when it benefited from a hefty one-time gain.
But the company is being pummeled by the economic downturn, with advance reservations down 23 percent, executives told investors Tuesday. By comparison, bookings fell by about 5 percent in the ski season after Sept. 11, 2001.
The company’s losses totaled $34.5 million, or 93 cents per share, compared with losses of $24.6 million, or 63 cents per share, a year ago. Vail Resorts noted that a gain of $11.9 million in a contract-dispute credit was included in the prior year’s results. Quarterly revenue jumped 56 percent to $152.8 million, from $97.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2008. Vail Resorts’ revenue was boosted by the timing of real-estate transactions during the quarter.
The Associated Press
