Poor snowfall and a warm winter has hampered terrain at Park City Mountain and Deer Valley Resort.
As a result, various on-mountain lodges opened later this year. Park City Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jennifer Wesselhoff says employees in a variety of ski and tourism-related jobs have struggled to get hours.
“Many of the employers are having to cut back hours and are worried about how that's going to impact our workforce,” she told the Summit County Council Jan. 28.
That wasn’t necessarily the kind of labor issue businesses expected this year.
A few months ago, the conversation was about whether J1 visa and other seasonal, international workers would make it to Park City amid a nationwide crackdown on immigration.
“A lot of our businesses reported that they were able to get the number of employees that they need, so luckily, that wasn't as much of an issue as we had anticipated,” Wesselhoff said.
Officials don’t yet know what a slow winter for business looks like as far as spending and tax revenue.
But the chamber’s data does show overall sales tax collections were flat, year-over-year, between 2024 and 2025.
From January to December 2025, restaurant tax revenue was up 2%, and the hotel and lodging sales tax was down 9%.
“‘Uncertainty’ was the word for 2025, and 2026,” Wesselhoff said. “There are a lot of economic levers that are all being pulled at the same time. There's a lot of mixed signals, and quite frankly, the forecasting has been and will continue to be just a little bit challenging moving forward.”
The Park City Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau is a financial supporter of KPCW.
