REVELSTOKE – With its fourth season in the books, Revelstoke Mountain Resort has built on past successes and is also dealing with some clearly-defined challenges in the coming years.
That was the message from Revelstoke Mountain Resort (RMR) Chief Operating Officer Rod Kessler in a season update presentation to Revelstoke city council on April 26. The presentation came two days after the ski hill closed for the season.
Good snow, strong destination market
Kessler said a strong snow season contributed to record visits at the resort for the fourth season in a row since it opened. “We were blessed with great snow, obviously,” Kessler said, listing off some snow stats. The ski hill got 1,150 centimetres of snow, Kessler said. Their biggest day was Jan. 6, when skiers were treated to 30 centimetres of new snow. “All in all, really good snow year,” he said.
Kessler said the resort had experienced success in their destination marketing efforts, getting lots of visitors from further afield. “A lot of our emphasis has been on group and wholesale business” he said, adding they were up 5.5 per cent in that category.
‘Rubber tire’ traffic down
On the flip side, visits from neighbouring communities were down. “We were down a bit in the rubber tire business,” Kessler said. Traditionally, RMR doesn’t share skier visit numbers.
One key issue is road closures. “We have graphed very carefully our skier visits, or revenues, and snowfall and it just screams very clearly where things drop is when the roads are closed,” Kessler said, adding lost revenue was “well into six figures.”
He suggested the municipality join forces on a lobby effort with other communities that are affected by the road closures. He gave Salmon Arm as an example.
“Perhaps between the two communities we can get together and at least write a letter,” Kessler said, adding the closures impact many businesses in Revelstoke: “If roads are closed, it’s a trickle down.”
Mayor David Raven told Kessler that the city had just begun a renewed “lobby effort” to deal with highway closures. At the meeting, council passed a resolution to write the B.C. transportation ministry “relaying the city’s concerns with the lack of communication to both the public and other agencies during the [April 9] Trans-Canada Highway bridge closure” in Malakwa.
Council also opted to invite chairperson of the dormant Safe Trans-Canada Highway Committee to give a presentation to council. Former Revelstoke mayor Mark McKee is the chairperson of the committee but has said he would wait until the results of the federal election before making a decision on reviving the organization.
Construction continues at base
Kessler said the major effort last year was completing ‘Building 3’ at the base of Mt. Mackenzie. Construction continues on ‘Building 2’ and completion is expected in the fall.
Positive media coverage continues
“Media coverage remains really high,” Kessler noted, listing off numbers that point to successful efforts to market the resort through media exposure.
He said the resort entertained 90 media personnel who were at RMR on assignment this season. The resort earned 31 million Web impressions last year.
The presence of major snow media film crews also had an effect. Kessler said Matchstick Productions, Brain Farm Digital Cinema, Nike Pro, and ESPN have all been in town working on large productions.
Capacity to spare
Coun. Tony Scarcella asked Kessler about the resort’s business plans for the coming years.
“Where the resort is right now … we need to finish what we started. We have capacity. We really need to maximize the capacity that we have before we really start to grow again,” Kessler said. This excess capacity includes not only hotel rooms but also existing lifts. Kessler said more gondolas and chairs could still be added to the lifts.
When RMR was the new kid on the block, their marketing focused on attracting the “early adapter alpha skier,” but Kessler said a new push would seek to fill out the family market.
“We recognized our shortfall … in family business. We have some projects on the board that are being proposed to help develop the family business. I have no announcement to make on that at this point, but we’re hopeful that we can move some projects forward.”
Kessler said the family initiative could help the resort “round out” the resources and capacity it already has.
RMR has suffered from the perception the resort is heavy on advanced black-diamond runs, and doesn’t have terrain for beginner and intermediate skiers, including the more lucrative family market. Kessler said they were looking to counter that perception with the message that 45 per cent of the mountain was intermediate terrain. “We don’t talk about it enough and that’s part of the adjustment we need to make,” Kessler said.
Kessler said there was also more room to develop the village. “We don’t want to compete with the community. We’re not going to open up a string of sports shops. That’s not what it’s about. Obviously we’re carrying a lot of infrastructure, and not enough usage yet.”
A golf course is still on the horizon. “The golf course is still on our minds. It will be a gem when the time comes. Is it the next five years? I can’t say,” Kessler said.
