900 Ski Industry Pros Walked Into Whistler. Here's What They Talked About.

After the worst Western snow season in half a century -- 52.6 million skier visits, a 14% decline, 60+ resorts closing early -- you'd think the mood at the ski industry's biggest annual gathering would be grim.

It wasn't.

The 2026 Mountain Travel Symposium brought more than 900 mountain travel professionals from 35+ countries to Whistler Blackcomb from April 13-18, and the theme couldn't have been more fitting: Fortune Favors the Bold.

What Is MTS (and Why It Matters)

If you're not in the B2B side of ski travel, you might not know about MTS -- but it's the largest and longest-running gathering of mountain travel professionals on the planet. For over 50 years, it's been the room where tour operators, resort executives, destination marketers, hotel groups, ski clubs, and international travel companies come together to build the relationships that make the ski travel ecosystem work.

This isn't a trade show where people wander past booths. It's a curated marketplace -- structured meetings, intentional matchmaking, real deals getting done. Tour operators from Europe and Asia sit down with North American resort reps. Ski club leaders from across the U.S. and Canada meet new destinations. Suppliers pitch, buyers listen, handshakes happen. It's the UN of snow sports, and it has been for decades.

Whistler: The Perfect Host

There aren't many places that can absorb 900+ industry professionals and still feel like a ski town. Whistler is one of them.

Whistler Blackcomb -- the largest ski area in North America, 2010 Olympic venue, and the kind of mountain that makes even jaded ski industry people stop and look up -- was the ideal backdrop for a conference about the future of mountain travel. The village itself is built for exactly this kind of thing: walkable, stacked with hotels and restaurants, and close enough to the slopes that you could sneak in a few spring laps between sessions.

The event kicked off with a welcome ceremony from the Squamish and Lil'wat nations, whose ancestral territories Whistler sits on -- followed by addresses from Barrett Fisher, President and CEO of Tourism Whistler, and Belinda Trembath, VP and COO of Whistler Blackcomb. It set the tone for a week that balanced business with a genuine sense of place.

A huge thank you goes to Tory Kargl, VP of Market Development at Tourism Whistler, and her team for helping coordinate the local hosting effort. Accommodating 900+ attendees across a six-day program is a massive logistical lift -- from venues and catering to transportation and on-mountain experiences -- and Tory's team made it feel effortless. The event ran smoothly, the hospitality was world-class, and Whistler showed exactly why it keeps getting picked to host the industry's biggest stage.

The Conversations That Mattered

Mike Douglas and the Case for Bold Ideas

The opening keynote came from Mike Douglas -- the godfather of freeskiing, newly inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame, and the guy who literally invented the twin-tip ski. His talk, "From Outrageous to Obvious," made the case that every breakthrough in the ski industry started as an idea people called crazy. Twin-tips. The Peak 2 Peak Gondola. Season pass mega-deals.

His message to the room: think bigger. Especially now, when the industry needs new ideas more than ever.

The Data: Mountain Travelers Are Changing

Phocuswright and Inntopia (now part of Outside) returned with updated findings from their mountain consumer behavior study, covering everything from booking patterns and lodging preferences to the role of social media and mobile tech in ski travel decisions. The big takeaway? Economic uncertainty and climate awareness are both shaping how and where people choose to ski -- and resorts that don't adapt their marketing to meet those shifts are going to get left behind.

Vail's Pivot to Guest Experience

Vail Resorts CRO Celeste Burgoyne took the stage and signaled a meaningful shift in strategy. After years of aggressive expansion -- acquiring 42 resorts and building the Epic Pass into a juggernaut -- Burgoyne said the focus is swinging back toward guest experience. "I think you'll see us really love up those resorts and really focus on those resorts in a way that we haven't in a little while," she said. After a season where skier visits dropped 14.9% and Rocky Mountain visits cratered 25%, that pivot feels overdue -- and welcome.

The "Snow Hangover" Warning

Tory Kargl offered a sobering observation about what the weak 2025-26 season might mean for next year's demand. "We will potentially see a snow hangover next year," she said, noting that the bad season could dampen enthusiasm -- especially among international visitors who plan trips months in advance based on recent conditions. It's a smart warning for an industry that tends to assume a good El Niño forecast will automatically bring people back.

Indigenous Tourism and the Future of Mountain Experiences

Court "Blackbird" Larabee led a session on building authentic partnerships with Indigenous communities -- not as a marketing checkbox, but as a genuine path to richer visitor experiences and shared economic benefit. Given Whistler's location on Squamish and Lil'wat territory, the session had extra resonance.

Why This Year Felt Different

MTS happens every year, but this one had a different energy. The 2025-26 season forced the kind of honest reckoning that good conferences need. The Western drought, the early closures, the pass pricing backlash, the antitrust lawsuit, the Forest Service policy shift -- all of it was in the air. People weren't just networking. They were asking hard questions about resilience, diversification, and what the industry looks like if climate volatility is the new normal.

And yet, the consensus was optimistic. A developing Super El Niño pattern could deliver a massive rebound season in 2026-27. The new Snow Pass cooperative is injecting fresh competition into the pass market. Summer mountain tourism is booming. International traveler interest remains strong, even if the booking timeline has stretched.

The ski industry has survived bad seasons before. What MTS Whistler showed is that it's not just surviving this one -- it's using it as a reason to rethink things.

Next Year: South Lake Tahoe

MTS 2027 heads to South Lake Tahoe, California/Nevada, from April 5-10. If El Niño delivers, the timing could be poetic -- the industry gathering in Tahoe on the heels of the redemption season everyone's hoping for.

More info: mtntrvl.com