The Park City Chamber/Bureau presented its annual report to members last Thursday at its conference at Newpark Hotel. The meeting was full of laughs, smiles and optimism, but the report is full of numbers showing just what kind of year 2008 was.
“This past year is one that we will not soon forget. We and our members have been challenged by financial difficulties that many of us have not experienced before in our business,” read the letter from the board of directors chair, Jenni Smith, and Chamber/Bureau president and CEO Bill Malone.
The numbers:
Meetings and Convention total booked room nights:
2006 17,175
2007 17,940
2008 13,569
Visitor Center numbers:
Kimball Junction
2006 44,687
2007 41,241
2008 34,570
Main Street
2006 75,281
2007 62,374
2008 19,898
Visitor nights:
2006 3,357,614
2007 3,310,976
2008 3,194,339
Total nights in first quarter:
2008 1,244,459
2009 1,038,752
Down 17 percent
Skier days
2006 1,746,333
2007 1,871,540
2008 1,645,233
Quick Start redemptions:
2006 17,772
2007 19,758
2008 16,541
Cathy Miller, director of marketing for the Chamber/Bureau, said she’s still optimistic for the 2009-2010 season because people are continuing to vacation, they are returning to places they already know, and the number of international visitors continues to rise.
“We still have a very healthy budget for marketing,” she said.