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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah boasts “The Greatest Snow on Earth,” which impacts the state’s economy by providing revenue through skiing and tourism. Here’s a look at statistics about Utah’s ski resorts.
Local ski resorts, national parks and other attractions brought in $1 billion in tax revenue for Utah in 2013 — the most recent year with compiled data, according to the Utah Tourism Industry Association. The tax revenue increased from $890 million in 2012.
“Tax revenue includes everything the guest spends money on after getting off the plane,” Ski Utah CEO and president Nathan Rafferty said. “And 70 percent of that is spent off of the (ski) mountain.”
In 2013, local resorts had 4.2 million skier visits, the third best season on record, the Utah Tourism Industry Association said.
Many local resorts have summer activities as well, including hiking and mountain biking.
"The summer mountain activities contributes about 12 percent of the annual revenue," according to RCC and Associates.
Utah is home to 14 resorts, 11 of which are within an hour of the Salt Lake City Airport, according to Ski Utah director of communications Paul Marshall. Utah would have had 15 resorts during the 2015-2016 season with the addition of Cherry Peak Ski Resort in Cache County, but with Vail Resorts Inc. planning to operate Park City Mountain Resort and Canyons Resort as a unified resort, it will leave the total at 14, Marshall said.
With the planned union of Park City and Canyons, it will become the largest ski resort in Utah and the United States, with 7,300 skiable acres, Marshall said. The current local resort with the most total acreage is Powder Mountain Resort with 7,000 acres of skiable terrain. However, only 2,800 acres are served with ski lifts — the rest of the acreage is backcountry, Marshall said.
Canyons Resort is the current second largest resort with 4,000 acres of skiable terrain.
Because many of the ski resorts have backcountry acreage, Ski Utah offers an interconnect tour that takes a person through the backcountry of six resorts — Deer Valley Resort, Park City Mountain Resort, Brighton Resort, Alta Ski Area, Snowbird and Solitude Mountain Resort.
Brighton Ski Resort boasts being the first ski resort in Utah, opening in 1936 and operating with a rope tow, Marshall said. However, Alta was the first resort to operate with a chairlift, opening in 1939.
When Cherry Peak Ski Resort opens later in 2015, it will become the newest resort in Utah, but the current newest resort is Eagle Point Resort, Marshall said. Eagle Point originally opened in the early 1970s and operated until 2002 as Mt. Holly and then as Elk Meadows, according to the Eagle Point website. The resort reopened as Eagle Point Resort in 2010.
The current second newest resort is Deer Valley Resort, which opened in 1981.
Photo credit: KSL-TV
