WHISTLER, British Columbia — Canada's Whistler ski resort is experiencing an economic slowdown just over a year before it hosts the alpine events for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Officials and businesses in Whistler point to a lack of snow and the global economic downturn.

Spending is down by about 10 percent for the season compared to last year, Tourism Whistler's Casey Vanden Houvel said. He said they prepared for a slowdown.

"It's fairly predictable that in tight economic times discretionary spending is a form of spending people cut," he said. "In terms of impact, we see that our average length of stay has been reduced."

Vanden Houvel also said overnight stays and conference bookings have declined.

Intrawest, the company that owns the ski resort, announced job cuts in November. The company, which also owns other resorts in North America, said the drop in business at its resorts is unlike anything it has experienced in recent years. The company refinanced a $1.4-billion loan with its parent company in October, just hours before a deadline that could have seen Intrawest's assets sold off.

The streets of the picturesque town 90 miles north of Vancouver were uncrowded Friday. The Salomon Sports ski shop was almost empty and down the street at the Peak Performance ski clothing shop, staff were standing around with little to do.

"What I hear in Whistler is that business is quite low compared to other years," said clerk Melanie Von Stetten.

Jim Douglas, manager of the tony Pan Pacific Whistler hotel, concurs that business is off by about 10 percent.

"A big core concentration of our business is U.S. business," he said. Douglas said the lack of snow this year has more to do with it.

Whistler received 2 new inches of snow overnight Monday, giving it a base of 29 inches. Eleven of the 27 chairlifts and gondolas on Whistler and Blackcomb mountains were open.

The real estate market has cooled. Prices are down 8 percent. Real estate agent Steve Legge blames the global slowdown for the decline, but said Whistler's decline isn't as precipitous as other markets.

"We're good by comparison," Legge said.

Conde Nast Traveler named Whistler the best ski resort town in North America earlier this month, but the resort received negative attention last week when a gondola tower collapsed. Fifty-three people were trapped in unheated gondola cabins for several hours, and 12 were injured when their cabins hit the ground. The Excalibur Gondola hasn't fully reopened.

Last week's collapse happened just days after officials unveiled Whistler's new $43-million Peak 2 Peak Gondola, the longest and highest lift of its kind in the world. Officials hope it will entice new visitors. It was built by Doppelmayr Seilbahnen GmbH of Austria, which also built the Excalibur.

While the gondola collapse raised concerns about the lifts for the 2010 Games, eyebrows were also raised when a massive rock slide closed the only direct highway to Whistler from Vancouver for five days this past summer.

The winding, slow and sometimes dangerous Sea to Sky Highway has undergone a $494 million upgrade to ensure it can handle all the traffic expected between Vancouver and Whistler during the Olympics. The upgrade of the highway was a major factor in the International Olympic Committee's decision to award the Games to Vancouver and Whistler.

Officials say the road, venues, athletes' village and snowmaking equipment will be ready for the Olympics.