Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. is looking at the big weekend of tourists in the area as a result of a successful marketing campaign the 14 feet of snow was just icing on the cake.

"Christmas used to be guaranteed to book up," said Andy Wirth, vice president of marketing for Ski Corp. "That's not really true anymore."

Therefore, marketing was targeted to bring people to town between Dec. 25 and 31 and it worked.

Ski Corp. projects 5,314 people flying on direct flights into Steamboat Springs between Christmas and New Year's Eve. That's 1,463 more people than last year at this time.

It's not just the reports of early snow that are bringing the people here, Wirth said.

"We were ahead on booking before the first snowflake fell," he said.

There is a similar increase in direct flight numbers for the week after New Year's Eve.

Between Jan. 1 and 7, 4,062 people are projected to fly into town. There were 3,272 last year, Wirth said.

"That means we're up 2,253 people in this two-week period," he said.

The marketing campaign included more advertising in destination markets and package deals for the holiday season offered on the Front Range, Wirth said.

Ski Corp. also had advertising deals with Coca-Cola and 7-11 this year, which helped in bringing tourists to town, he said.

Overall, the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association forecasted more than 14,000 vacationers spending the weekend in Steamboat Springs.

That number fills up 87 percent of all condo and hotel rooms in Steamboat Springs.