Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) — Vail Resorts Inc.’s season pass sales rose 13 percent in September as skiers eager for powder prepared to make tracks a year after the financial crisis. “This year the economy is still struggling but there is more confidence that it’s not getting dramatically worse,” Robert Katz, chief executive officer of Vail […]

The nation’s gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the quarter that ended in September, matching its average growth rate of the last 80 years, according to the Commerce Department. But government programs to encourage consumer spending on things like cars and houses are expiring, and employers remain reluctant to […]

During any other year, that might signal a business boom. But few things seem normal in a year when the travel industry has been turned upside down by companies severely cutting back. Bush’s double-digit increase will follow a 50% cut in his original 2009 budget. In 2010, he plans to log about 15 trips, up […]

Airfares are starting to inch back up, signs indicate, even on the prices of tickets on sale. Southwest (LUV), the nation’s leader in low-cost flying, this week introduced a sale on fares with prices on some routes higher than the lowest fares customers have come to expect. They included a $118 round trip between Phoenix […]

Greetings from Summit County! Arapahoe Basin and Loveland will begin making snow any day now, and within two months all Summit County ski resorts will be open for skiing and riding. Attached you will find the September ’09 Market Insider – Summit County Edition. In this edition you’ll find: 1. Month-to-Month Sold Residential Property in […]

IMPACT OF “THE CRASH” ON MOUNTAIN TRAVEL (A Statistical “Apples to Oranges” Comparison, August Occupancy Down; First Positive Future Reservations Data For Coming Ski Season) Denver, Colo., Sept 17, 2009—The August summary of the Mountain Travel Research Program (MTRiP) coincides with the one year anniversary of the economic meltdown that impacted nearly every sector of […]