At this time of the year, when snow begins falling in the mountains, Christopher Nicolson starts feeling optimistic.

The president of Tourism Sun Peaks lets on that he also has other reasons to be cheerful nowadays. He recently spent a week in Seattle for a ski show there. What he heard suggests that there will be more American skiers visiting B.C. this season.

“I think there will be a rebound,” Nicolson told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview from Sun Peaks Resort, near Kamloops. “I think this year will be stronger than last year. When you talk to the ski stores, that is a barometer for us. And many of the ski shops are selling more equipment or clothing. That is a very good sign for us. Over the 20 years that I’ve been working in the market, it has been a reliable indicator as to how people are looking ahead to the season.”

Sun Peaks Resort is the second-largest ski destination in the province. It will open on November 19, and there are lots of early bookings from Australia, according to Nicolson. However, he expects markets like the U.K. and Germany to be “softer and down”.

“We would be looking for growth at our key markets,” Nicolson said, referring to B.C. residents, who are 50 to 60 percent of Sun Peaks’ visitors. The balance is as much as 15 percent from the U.S. and the rest from Ontario, Alberta, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe.

Michael J. Ballingall, vice president of sales and marketing for Big White Ski Resort outside Kelowna and Silver Star Mountain Resort near Vernon, is also optimistic about some growth from the U.S. market.

“We actually are seeing a rebound from the U.S.,” Ballingall told the Straight by phone. “It won’t be as good as 2008, but it is starting to rebound. Last year was probably the worst year. And already the advance bookings are outstripping last year.”

Ballingall expects a modest growth of 2.5 to 3 percent in American skier visits. He said Big White and Silver Star get about a million skier visits a year, with people from the B.C. Interior accounting for about half of these. Lower Mainland visitors represent 25 percent of skier visits at the two resorts.

Silver Star opens on November 24, and Big White on December 3.

“Last season, we were up in skier visits at both resorts,” Ballingall said. “It was bad for USA business, bad for U.K. business, but very good for domestic.”

According to a B.C. Statistics review of the entire provincial tourism industry for 2010, visitors from the U.S. have been “trending downward since 2001”. It cites contributing reasons like security concerns, a high Canadian dollar, and regulatory changes that delay border crossings.

The report also notes that although the number of American visitors increased by 1.8 percent in 2010, arrivals from the U.S. “remain at less than two-thirds of the 2000 level”.

Peter Williams, director of SFU’s Centre for Tourism Policy and Research, noted that although the high Canadian dollar and continuing jitters over the world economy may not provide a robust foreign market, local ski resorts can continue to rely on some of their traditional clientele from abroad.

“I guess for the upper-middle-class travellers who are, typically, the market for skiers, they’re perhaps a little bit more resilient,” Williams told the Straight by phone. “And if they missed skiing last year, they want to make up for it this year.”