Little snow meant this year’s ski season began slowly, however, tourism officials in Park City say the number of lodging bookings during Christmas and New Year’s jumped eight percent compared to last year.

"We’re extending the holidays and [last week was] an extremely strong week for business," said Bill Malone, executive director of the Park City Chamber/Bureau. "Years ago it used to be the day after New Year’s the holidays were pretty much over"

During January Park City resorts will be advertised on network affiliates in New York City and San Diego, he added.

"New York has always been a market that we’ve aspired to do television in," Malone said, adding that 283 commercials will run this month on an ABC affiliate in New York City thanks in part to a $250,000 grant from the state’s Life Elevated tourism promotion campaign. "We know that snow messages are critical at this time of the season for those guests to feel confident in booking that there is going to be good snow in March."

Malone told the Summit County Commission last week that in 2006 the Chamber/Bureau in Park City hosted 143 journalists.

"We’ve received a great amount of publicity in a variety of publications," he said.