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Pocono News Section
Poconos Expecting Huge Weekend Ski Profits
Poconos Expecting Huge Weekend Ski Profits - Friday, February 15, 2008 at 7:13PM EST
Reported by: Laurie Monteforte
Friday, Feb 15, 2008 @07:13pm EST
MONROE COUNTY- Friday is finally here and now many of us look forward to a three day weekend. Pocono area businesses tell us this is usually their biggest weekend of the winter. The white slopes are expected to attract plenty of green.
The more people who take ski lifts up Shawnee Mountain, the more dollar signs Pocono area businesses see. And those businesses expect to see hundreds of thousands of dollars this weekend.
The Presidents’ Day holiday is one of the most important weekends for the vacation industry. Jim Tust of Shawnee Mountain said, "If we have a good ten days it will have been a successful season no matter what happens from there on."
Tust manages Shawnee Mountain. He told us this year has been much better than last year. "It started out with a fantastic Christmas week. We had the Martin Luther King Holiday week - and most weekends - and now this President's week very important to us," said Tust.
It's also important to the people who run the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau. Its Director, Carl Wilgus, said when people come to ski they help the entire region. "They're eating, they're going to movies - they're shopping - they're looking for other attractions and other things to see and do," said Wilgus.
Wilgus believes while high gas prices hurt some vacation hot spots, they could actually help the Poconos. "In less than a tank of gas you can get to the Poconos and back home," he added.
"I think a lot of people that may have gone to New England will be heading to the Poconos," said Tust.
Pocono area hotels are booked almost full for the weekend and resorts expect to welcome thousands of skiers, snowboarders and snowtubers. That means this year's vacation profit margin is looking up.
The Presidents’ Day weekend is the second of two important winter tourism holidays in the Poconos. The other, is Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend.
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