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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah ski resorts are breaking a record for the number of skiers visiting slopes for third straight year, ski industry officials said today.
That's a welcome sign for tourism officials, who kick off their statewide conference Wednesday, because skiers tend to stay longer and spend more per day than other tourists.
This season, Utah's 13 ski resorts had more than 4 million skier visits. That's up more than 150,000 from the 2004-2005 season. And one resort -- Snowbird -- is still open this late in the season.
Tourism is a $5.45 billion industry in Utah that attracted more than 18.2 (M)illion visitors in 2005, an increase of 4 percent from the previous year. State leaders are determined to gain a bigger slice of the more than $550 billion tourists spend in the U.S. each year.
Luring more skiers to the state is crucial to their efforts.
Skiers spend about 176 percent more per trip, excluding travel costs, than the average Utah tourist, according to the Utah Office of Tourism.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
