Occupancy in western U.S. mountain resorts continued to climb in June with actual occupancy up 10.5 percent over June 2010, according to the Denver-based Mountain Travel Research Program.
While occupancy went up, the average daily rate being charged was relatively flat with a 1.6 percent increase.
For the first six months of 2011, actual occupancy was up 4.7 percent over a year ago while the average daily rate increased 1.4 percent.
“As we predicted last month, despite turmoil in the broader market and more negative than positive economic news, we’re still seeing that mountain vacations this summer are a good match for consumers,” said Ralf Garrison, MTRiP director.
Garrison said the remainder of the summer also shows occupancy growth outpacing 2010.
On-the-books occupancy for the next six months – July through December – is up 7.2 percent from the same period last year.
Garrison said earlier this year that the trend of visitors from nearby “drive communities,” such as cities along Colorado’s Front Range, are helping to propel the increase in mountain resort vacations.
He added in the June report that good marketing tactics, a wide range of mountain-specific special events and good pricing also helped the increase.
The data is gathered from 265 management companies in 15 mountain destination communities in Colorado, Utah, California and Oregon.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
