A great season for skiing but COVID is still playing its part

By Ziyad Benhaddad

Southern Ontario weather hasn’t always been kind to ski resorts across the province. This year, it’s the contrary as the snowfall was good to them. Even though mother nature did its job, the pandemic still affected the overall numbers. Per GlobalNews, Ontario ski resorts had a tough time in 2021 as they experienced a 45% decrease in business. Restrictions are lightening up, which is resulting in slow progress this year.

Kyla Smith, who works as a guest service for the Horseshoe Valley, says the season has been pretty busy despite the restrictions.”People are taking advantage of the heavy snow to ski, despite the restrictions that are in place.” She gave me insight on the numbers of the resort this season and she claimed there’s no drastic difference from last year but there’s a difference.” Numbers haven’t changed that much for outdoors as there’s a little increase but for indoor services, they’ve decreased a lot because of the restrictions on the capacity.” It’s her second year working at the resort and she feels a difference from last year.

This situation is very similar across all resorts in Ontario, the restrictions towards indoor services have made it hard for them to make it profitable on that end. Since the main attraction is the outdoor activities, the limitations that are placed aren’t as overbearing as its counterpart. Vaccine passports are needed for any indoor dining as per the provincial demands and masks are a must in the chair liftline. Kyla implied the staff has been trained and briefed to make sure people are respecting the guidelines. “A lot of the staff are charged with enforcing the social distancing and mask rules on the hills.”

Paul Pinchbeck, CEO of the Canadian Ski Council, acknowledged the challenge ski resorts faced during the 2021 season. He told the Canadian Underwriter, “Across Canada, we’re probably looking at a 35% to 40% decline in our total revenues.” He implied that Ontario was amongst the worst-hit resorts, which operated for an average of only 47 days out of what’s typically a 100-day season thanks to the provincial lockdown. Although the pandemic is unpredictable there’s hope it will be more under control this season.

Despite the flurry of snowfall in the province, Covid-19 is still having an impact on the potential visits to ski resorts. Staff members are noticing an improvement in the numbers compared to last year, not having a lockdown helped as well. There’s optimism that it will improve even more as time goes on and vaccination rates are increasing.