Even though things are trending in the right direction, Chief Marketing Officer at Sun Peaks Resort is managing his expectations ahead of the upcoming ski season, which is just 23 days away.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Aidan Kelly says that is because of changing COVID restrictions that have been in place since March 2020.

“All the indicators are pointing towards a really strong winter. There will be some new visitation patterns hopefully that we didn’t have last winter,” he said.

“It is all trending in the right direction but you’ll recall that around this time last year things were trending in the right direction as well but then the wheels started to fall off the wagon pretty quickly so cautious optimism is the name of the game in Sun Peaks.”

Speaking on NL Newsday, Kelly says Sun Peaks Resort is able to adapt to changes a lot better now that it has already navigated ski and summer seasons with COVID restrictions in place.

“For the most part, they’ve been successful and we’re looking to build off that with stronger visitors and getting some of our traffic back this winter,” Kelly said. “We’re pretty used to being adaptable now and juggling things on the fly and I’m sure there will be a little bit of that this winter but there are not as many unknowns now.”

“There are a few things starting to work in our favour where you know last winter, travel restrictions were very strong but currently travel is able to happen. Also, vaccines weren’t a thing last winter but there’s a very high vaccination rate this winter.”

Arlene Schieven, the President and CEO of Tourism Sun Peaks told NL News in early October that she is “cautiously optimistic” that there will be some international visitors on the slopes during the 2021-22 ski season, though she is not holding out hope.

“January has always been the month where Australians have really buoyed visitation to Sun Peaks,” she said. “Without that, when we look at the pace, its January that is hurting the most.”

“We can do our best to try and fill that with other travellers but there is no question that there will be an impact. When the Australians come and stay for a long period of time, that helps buoy the midweek visitation as well. We’ll try to counter that with mid-week specials so we’re not just busy on the weekends.”

The winter ski season at Sun Peaks Resort is set to get underway on Saturday, Nov. 20.