Colorado Ski Country late Friday announced numbers showing weak visitation at its 21 member resorts through December.
The not-surprising news of an 11.5 percent decline in visitation shows that not even the holiday snow could buoy resorts that endured a snowless November and a dry first half of December.
The tally does not bode well for resorts praying for a rebound from Nationally, skier visits fell 16 percent last season, dropping to 51 million, the lowest since 1991-92. In Colorado, visits fell by 1.2 million, reaching the lowest level since the 1980-81 season.
Vail Resorts, which operates four of the most trafficked ski areas in Colorado, accounting for about a third of the state’s visits, announced last week that visitation to its seven ski areas — including three in California — climbed 2 percent through Sunday.
But it wasn’t enough to offset the declines of mostly in-state skiers in November and early December.
