Skier days fell 26.5% in Utah’s worst snow year, handing Summit County the state’s largest room tax decline

Utah skier days fell 26.5% to 4.8 million in 2025/26, the sharpest decline in a new state tourism report, following Utah's worst snow year on record. Photo: TownLift

PARK CITY, Utah — Summit County’s tourism economy took the hardest hit in the state last year, losing nearly $1 million in room tax revenue as Utah’s worst snow year on record cut skier visits by more than a quarter, according to a new report from the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.

The county’s roughly $968,000 drop in transient room tax revenue was the largest of any Utah county in 2025, even as Utah’s tourism industry set an overall record with $13.7 billion in visitor spending. Yet the local economy showed its durability: Summit County added tourism jobs during its worst snow year, and the visitors who did come spent more per trip than ever.

The report puts state-level numbers behind a downturn TownLift has tracked all year. Utah recorded 4.8 million skier days in 2025/26, down 26.5%, while skier spending fell 17.8% to $2.1 billion. Alta logged just 319 inches of snow against a 10-year average of 547.

The reasons are consistent across every dataset: a warm, dry start delayed resort openings, forced heavy reliance on snowmaking, and led to early closures. Park City Mountain stopped turning lifts April 5, and Vail Resorts reported Rocky Mountain visitation down 25% in what CEO Rob Katz called “one of the most challenging winters in history.” Regionwide, the National Ski Areas Association counted 20.1 million Rocky Mountain visits, the region’s lowest total since the pandemic-shortened 2019/20 season.

What the numbers mean locally

Park City Chamber research with Ski Utah shows Summit County accounts for more than $1.3 billion of Utah’s ski economy, and many local businesses earn 60% to 75% of their annual revenue during winter.

Summit County businesses still generated $1.4 billion in leisure and hospitality sales in 2025, the third-highest total in Utah behind Salt Lake and Utah counties. But that total shrank from the year before, and the county was among the few statewide where those sales declined.

Room rates were the one measure that went up. Summit County posted one of the largest increases in average nightly rates in the state, second only to Wasatch County, likely driven by the Deer Valley East Village expansion. Fewer visitors came, but the ones who did paid more: spending per visitor reached a record $392, up 12%.

“The winter conditions that caused early resort closings give Park City an opportunity to attract spring and summer recreation earlier than we traditionally can,” Chamber President and CEO Jennifer Wesselhoff told TownLift in April, pointing to hiking, biking, fly-fishing, and arts festivals as opportunities to support summer visitation.

Sundance’s last run adds uncertainty

The 2026 Sundance Film Festival was its final one in Utah before the festival moves to Boulder, Colorado. The 2025 festival drew 85,472 attendees and generated an estimated $162.4 million in out-of-state visitor spending, supporting nearly 2,700 jobs.

Looking Forward to the 2026/27 season

The report is not all bad news. Summit County’s leisure and hospitality employment grew about 3% in 2025, roughly double the statewide sector average of 1.4%, meaning the county added tourism jobs even in its worst snow year on record.

Deer Valley Resort opened the largest ski area expansion in U.S. history this past season, more than doubling its terrain to 4,300 acres with 10 new lifts and Utah’s longest run, the 4.85-mile Green Monster.

Vail Resorts, owner and operator of Park City Mountain, has renewed its commitment to putting the customer first. The company’s new multi-year Epic Experience initiative shifts its growth strategy from pass sales and acquisitions to guest experience, with upgrades to food, lessons and gear rolling out at its premier resort properties, and Katz saying the company is targeting a level of service above Deer Valley.

Industry leaders on both the state and national level frame the season as weather, not weakness. Gardner senior tourism analyst Jennifer Leaver described 2025 as a normalization rather than a downturn, and NSAA President Michael Reitzell has noted low-snow seasons have historically been followed by strong rebounds.

Statewide, tourism supported 167,200 jobs, about 1 in 10 in Utah, and generated $1.6 billion in direct state and local tax revenue. The full report is available at gardner.utah.edu.