As a blizzard blankets much of the East Coast this week, Snowshoe Mountain Resort has announced that it’s extending its season through April 5, thanks to the best snow conditions in its 36-year history. Ranked by Skiing magazine as the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast’s number-one resort, the West Virginia destination is also offering free lift tickets to those staying two nights or more between March 28 and April 5. For more information, click here.
A survey of nearly 500 institutions released last week by the American Association of Museums revealed that nearly 57 percent experienced an increase in visitors in 2009. The survey also reported that more museums charged admission compared with last year, though the average adult ticket price remains $7. The findings come after the Smithsonian Institution reported record attendance at its 19 Washington facilities last year, with more than 30 million visitors passing through its doors.
Thousands of travel professionals, exhibitors, and wanderlust-driven visitors will descend on Manhattan this weekend for the New York Times Travel Show. While tickets are still available, a similar event is coming to DC next weekend—the sixth annual Travel and Adventure Show, March 6 and 7 at the Washington Convention Center. Though smaller in scale, the DC event features more than 200 exhibitors and destination experts as well as tourism officials offering thousands of affordable vacation options from around the globe. Attendees can also enjoy zip-lining, rock-wall climbing, and scuba-diving activities. Special guests include travel writers Arthur Frommer, Patricia Schultz, and Julia Dimon. Adult tickets cost $15, but if you enter the promotion code DCPR at the show’s Web site, you’ll get a $5 discount.
According to CNN, airline revenue is up for the first time in 14 months. US carriers had experienced a decline since November 2008, but the Air Transport Association reports a 1.4 percent growth in January. The end of the airline industry’s downward skid is likely due to the fact that the average ticket price to fly one mile increased by 0.6 percent—the first rise since November 2008. The ATA also reported a 3.4-percent passenger increase on transatlantic flights in January.
Nearly one-quarter of all jobs in the US airline industry have disappeared during the past decade, according to the US Bureau of Transportation. BOT statistics revealed that more than 170,000 full- and part-time jobs were shed between January 2000 and December 2009, with major carriers suffering the largest cutbacks. United Airlines is less than half of its 1999 size, while American Airlines has cut 26 percent of it workforce.
