Vail Resorts revenue down 26% as company fights back from COVID-19 restrictions

BOULDER — Vail Resorts reported another dismal revenue quarter Thursday, posting second-quarter sales totals down 26% from the same period last year.

Total revenues were $684.6 million in the second quarter, and net attributable income was $147.8 million, down from $206.4 million in Q2 2020.

Still, company leaders are expressing optimism about a comeback, citing growing visitorship and revenue in the later part of the period.

“Given the challenging operating environment as a result of COVID-19, we are very pleased with our results through this point in the 2020/2021 ski season across our 34 North American resorts,” Vail CEO Rob Katz said in a prepared statement. “We have welcomed guests to each of our resorts with no major ongoing disruptions, which has been enabled by our focus on prioritizing the health and safety of our guests, employees and communities. While our results for the second quarter continued to be negatively impacted by COVID-19, total visitation across our North American destination mountain resorts and regional ski areas was only down approximately 5% compared to the same period in the prior year.”

Season-to-date metrics through March 7 compared with the same period in 2020:

• Total skier visits were down 8.2%.
• Total lift ticket revenue was down 8.9%.
• Ski school revenue was down 43.2%.
• Dining revenue was down 56.9%.
• Retail/rental revenue for North American resort and ski area store locations was down 31.6%.

“Our results continued to improve in January and February as we expanded capacity with more open terrain as conditions improved and as certain COVID-19 related restrictions eased,” Katz said. “Additionally, as more reservations became available after the peak holiday period, we have seen a significant improvement in lift ticket purchases.”

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