ASPEN, Colorado (dpa) – While America’s East Coast tourist industry has been hit hard by the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, operators of ski resorts in the Rocky Mountains are looking forward to a more or less normal season.
So far, only a few international guests have cancelled their holiday in the mountains, say officials in Colorado and Utah states.“Of course the booking trend slowed immediately after September 11, but now it’s picking up speed again and we hope that it will reach the normal level again,” says Nathan Rafferty of “Ski Utah” in Salt Lake City.“It certainly won’t be a terrible season,” agrees Maureen Poschman of the Aspen Skiing Company. There were apparently only a few guests who decided not to go ahead with the holidays at the resort in Colorado after September 11.Most bookings in any case traditionally arrive in December and January meaning that estimates can’t be made yet, Poschman adds.Security measures at Aspen’s airport have been stepped up meaning that long queues may be experienced, said Poschman. Otherwise, no limits were being placed on tourists. This season, Aspen is counting on many snowboarders coming now that snowboarding is possible in all four ski areas in the region.Until April last year, the sport was forbidden for pistes on Aspen Mountain (3,813 metres), “and many snowboarders thought that they couldn’t come to us or the other three ski areas at all.” The season in Aspen this winter runs from November 17 to April 14, 2002.Another “extension to the high security standards” has also been announced by Vail Resorts in their complexes at Beaver Creek, Breckenbridge, Keystone and Vail.In the main this means more safety measures on ski runs, including electronic displays on the mountain to provide reminders of the most important safety rules. In addition, piste patrols will keep persistent hooligans far from the mountain.Like Aspen, no noticeable shortfall in bookings have been noticed in Utah, said Vail Resorts’ management. To cope with growing visitor numbers, 61.5 million euros has been invested this year in what the operators say is North America’s largest ski area.This includes the construction of a further ski area at Beckenbridge, and elsewhere a new ski school and children’s centre has been built and a new snow- making machine purchased.A respectable 10 per cent of Utah’s 3.4 million skiing tourists come from abroad. After Britons, Germans made up the second-largest group of international winter- sport guests. In Aspen, according to Poschman, foreigners comprise 20 per cent of its 200,000 skiers per season.There is at present no telling what influence the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City will have on America’s ski tourism. “The games will direct global attention to the Rocky Mountains, not just to the host city,” hopes Maureen Poschman.In Salt Lake City itself, tourist managers are already reckoning with a slight drop in visitors due to the events of September 11, “because there is a misconception that the place will look like an overcrowded building site,” said Nathan Rafferty.The reality, however, looks different, he suggested: Only 2 per cent of Utah’s ski areas will be affected by the games, and then only for 17 days. “This means that it will be quieter than usual here before and after the games.”
