Climate change to hurt skiing, tourism

Posted by egable on July 25th, 2008 filed in Climate change

Tourism, in particular skiing and related winter activities, in Colorado will be hurt by warming temperatures caused by climate change, according to a new report from the Center for Integrative Environmental Research at the University of Maryland.

Colorado is the number one ski and snowboard state in the United States, with 23.1 percent of the market share and an estimated $1.92 billion of revenue generated annually.

If no further steps are taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the snowline in Colorado could increase by as much as 1,312 feet and the snow season could be shortened by one month. Snow pack is also expected to decrease by 20 percent.

If skiing tourism decreases by just 1 percent annually, the economic loss would be $375 million by 2017, according to the report.