Batawa Ski Hill’s General Manager agrees that the ski and snowboard industry is estimating total revenues were down by up to 40% this past season.
Brian Diedenhofen says Batawa only operated for about 30 days, down from an average of 70 in a normal year.
He says the most disappointing part was that Ontario ski operators went to great lengths to make changes so they could operate safely during the pandemic.
“And were were told by government that ski areas would not be shut down. And then out of the blue they changed their mind on that and Ontario was the only place in North America that had ski areas closed down despite the fact that in a lot of regions ski areas were operating without any signs of any kind of impact.”
Diedenhofen says adapting to the restrictions did result in some positives for future operations.
“Well, our e-commerce for one thing. You know, we had a five-year plan to get into an e-commerce solution and had to be all done in one fall. So everything we offer now is all online and we’ll really try and encourage that going forward. It’s better for us, certainly better for the guests.”
They also made some changes to in-house operations like their ski and snowboard school that will make it more efficient.
Didenhofen also had great praise for the local ski and snowboard community, thanking them for their support.
While Batawa has a refund program for season’s pass holders, he says many people have waived part or all of their refund to support the hill.
