America’s Ski Resorts Face a Booking Slump While Italy Cashes In

After a poor 2025-26 snow season in the Mountain West, U.S. ski destinations are heading into winter with weak early demand. Ski.com, North America’s largest ski vacation packager, says bookings to U.S. destinations were down 24 percent through October 6. Bookings to Italy, host of the 2026 Winter Olympics, were up 120 percent, and Canada rose 27 percent, driven largely by the Banff area.

Data from Inntopia DestiMetrics, covering 17 mountain destinations through August, shows November-through-February lodging occupancy down 5.6 percent year over year. Vail Resorts reported Epic Pass unit sales down 12 percent as of September 18, with the steepest declines in day and multiday passes rather than season passes. Walk-up lift tickets at major destination resorts are nearing a peak price of $400.

The hoped-for fix is weather. A strong El Nino has formed in the Pacific, with water temperatures about four degrees above average, and such events have tended to bring above-average snowfall to the Sierras and southern Rockies. Utah is harder to call, and the northern Rockies, Northeast and Pacific Northwest tend to see less. Inntopia’s Tom Foley says that snow “will change everything,” as it always has.

Economics could blunt the rebound. Consumer confidence plunged in September to its lowest level since 2014 and inflation is outpacing wage growth. One bright spot is Indy Pass, which sold out of its pass inventory, up more than 30 percent this year, with more than half of holders on the snowy East Coast. For skiers, the lesson is to wait on snow reports before locking in nonrefundable trips.

Sources: Travel Weekly