With a major expansion plan about to start on one of Killington’s lodges in a bid to attract more skiers, WCAX3 set out to understand how much tourism in and around the Rutland area is generated by resort skiers.

Killington’s director of sales and marketing Rob Megnin believes the resort “Has a trickle-down economic impact that goes far beyond the resort because people are staying in Rutland, they’re eating down in Rutland, they’re also eating down the road in the community.”

But skiers WCAX3 spoke with said they think people tend to stay on the mountain and not venture off into Rutland:“I think, for the most part, people– once you’re here, you’re here.” -Rob Reynolds of Killington.

Executive director of the Rutland Region Chamber of Commerce Mary Cohen says there’s still work to do to get tourists off the mountain and into the city: “Some people don’t know there is a downtown in Rutland. They know Route 4 and they know Route 7, and they don’t know our charming little downtown. So, we could probably do a bit better at making sure that gets known.”

Whether or not you believe the 1 to 10 ratio expressed by Megnin, skiers certainly have an impact on the area but there could always be more. How might you suggest getting more ski tourism traffic into Rut-Vegas?

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