American Ski Resorts Benefit From Credit Crunch
The economic slowdown in the US has been in the news for some time and while we are seeing a number of doomsday scenarios and gloomy reports, it seems that the weakness of the dollar may actually help to get the country through this difficult period. Recently there have been reports of increased booking numbers in the US tourist industry with the ski resort sector, in areas such as Vail and Aspen, leading the charge. Whilst the market for newcomers to American ski property may be slow, current ski resort property owners may actually be benefiting from the US credit crunch.
There is no doubt that during an economic slowdown, money becomes tighter and tighter around the world and the spectacular fall of the US dollar over the last few years has seen many tourists around the world sit up and take notice. As the dollar continues to flounder under a slowing economy the situation is unlikely to improve much in the short to medium term and there are great bargains to be had for tourists from countries such as the UK. The weak purchasing power of the dollar abroad and record snow fall has also resulted in a larger numbers of home-grown tourists opting to stay at ‘home’ for their ski vacation and fix the price of their ski holiday in dollars. This trend looks set to continue with larger numbers of US citizens holidaying at home and greater number of foreign tourists attracted by more bang for their buck !
This increased spending power and increased interest has seen room occupancy rates in the ski resorts Stateside remain surprisingly firm, and while there are a number of hotel projects which have been shelved or cancelled, this is yet another factor which may well work in favour of the US economy. As interest in ski travel is still strong, and room availability is set to fall due to cancelled hotel expansion projects, this has actually allowed many ski resorts to firm up their room rates with little risk to business.
As a consequence of this increased interest in established ski resorts such as Aspen, the local ski resort property market is also beginning to attract attention with the Pound and Euro giving increased spending power compared to the recent past. So while the overall US economy continues to suffer it seems that it is not all downhill for some areas of the business community.
