Park City chamber ready to welcome visitors to ‘Winter’s Favorite Town’

Fall Forum panel discussion. (L-R) Tom Kelly, Moderator, Todd Bennett, President and COO of Deer Valley, Deirdra Walsh, Vice President and COO of Park City Mountain, Nathan Rafferty, President and CEO of Ski Utah, Gareth Trayner, General Manager at Woodward Park City, Calum Clark, COO of Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation. Photo: TownLift

Summit County resorts have broken year-over-year skier day records the last 4 years running and is on track to make it 5.

Park City, UTAH — The Park City Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau held its annual Tourism Fall Forum on Thursday at the Stein Eriksen Lodge. It was anchored around the topics of economic growth and winter marketing plans and led by resort marketing executives and Park City Chamber leadership.

A panel discussion

A panel discussion moderated by Tom Kelly and composed of local resort leaders Todd Bennett, the president and COO of Deer Valley, Deirdra Walsh, the vice president and COO of Park City Mountain, Gareth Trayner, general manager at Woodward Park City, Nathan Rafferty, president and CEO of Ski Utah, and Calum Clark, COO of Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation covered a wide range of topics in regards to the winter season. It included many plaudits for the work at each resort on housing, childcare, J1 workers, equality and traffic reduction.

Of note was consensus among panelists about the reduction in traffic and customer benefits associated with newly implemented paid parking programs. Nathan Rafferty shared that the systems, starting with Alta and expanding to Park City Mountain, Brighton and Solitude, have “taken the drama out of getting to the mountain” because once you pay for a spot, you know that part of your day is taken care of.

’23/’24 winter tourism levels

A presentation lead by Jennifer Wesselhoff, president & CEO at Visit Park City reviewed advanced booking and average daily rate data paired with forecasted travel trends, the overall tone was optimistic that this will be another vibrant and busy winter season for Park City. Skier days at Summit County resorts have broken records the last four years running, and with on-the-books reservations up 4% currently on a year-over-year basis, the foundation of continuing this growth trajectory for another season is in place.

Wesselhoff concluded her presentation saying that “The winter season will be bright even with all the uncertainty (economic, presidential election, and international conflict), Park City is poised to welcome thousands of visitors to winter’s favorite town.”

Visit Park City marketing and education

The Park City Chamber shared snippets of its upcoming winter marketing campaign “Winter’s Favorite Town” that will be anchored around welcoming visitors to Park City while also educating them on how to reduce their impact on the local community. In line with the goals from the Sustainable Tourism Plan, the Chamber will continue to lead the initiative of creating an environment where tourism takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of locals, the industry, the environment and visitors.

Olympic bid

When moderator Tom Kelly asked the panel of resort leaders to look into their “crystal ball” and share what the future may hold for Park City, Calum Clark, COO of Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, said, “We will be a two-time Olympic host city.”