Much more than the lift, ticket booth, cafeteria, and ski school/equipment rental facility that characterized ski areas of a generation ago, ski resorts have evolved into complex, multimillion dollar entities with such diversified enterprises as real estate development, hospitality and restaurant management, tour operations and reservations centers, nurseries, and day camps. They are now somewhat of a cross between a city, a resort, and a theme park.
There are 21 million skiers (those who have skied within the past two years) less than 10 percent of the population. The ski industry generates nearly $2 billion in revenues on about 55 million skier visits and pays out $400 million in salaries. The 27 members of Colorado Ski Country, USA, alone attracted nearly 10 million skier visits in 1991 and employed 7,500 people year round (12,000 in peak season).
There are about 590 ski areas only about 100 of them are true destination resorts (places where people come from outside the immediate area and overnight). Due to the high costs of operating ski areas and the increasing pressure to offer a full complement of ski and non-ski activities to attract the sophisticated, affluent clientele, small areas have tended not to do well. The trend has been toward large, multipurpose ski companies' big businesses and foreign ownership (particularly by the Japanese). Many are tied to real estate development and management. Moreover, because skiers are discerning (they go where the snow is the most consistently the best), ski companies have had to invest enormous sums on snow making and grooming and on faster, state of the art lifts, which adds an extra technological dimension to this industry.
Easing off a Plateau
Despite an outpouring of hundreds of millions of dollars, the ski industry has had a fairly stable base of skiers for the past 10 years, a cause of major concern for an industry banking on growth. There is an industry-wide effort to "grow" new skiers through learn to ski promotions and special events family packages and children's programs new non-ski activities and facilities like spas and athletic centers and programs targeting women, seniors, and handicapped skiers. Efforts are also being directed toward developing entirely new markets including incentive travel and toward enticing the international market (Europeans, Asians and South Americans).
The industry has also made a greater effort to reach new skiers through the travel industry (tour operators and travel agents), a market that had all but been ignored until 10 years ago. Travel agents can reach potential skiers in their locality and suggest a ski vacation can overcome objections and obstacles (as they do for a cruise product) can recommend a suitable ski destination based on needs, wants, and budget and can provide the convenience of one-stop shopping. Tour operators accomplish two critical functions, they bring down the cost of skiing (a major impediment), and they reduce the confusion and complication of booking all the different elements of a ski trip (air and ground transportation, lodgings, lift tickets, lessons, equipment) by packaging all the elements purchased at negotiated rates. Some of the largest ski-tour operators in cluck Advance Reservations, Park City, UT and Any Mountain Tours, Arlington, VA.
Increasingly, ski resorts have formed their own travel agencies and tour operations in order to better reach consumers with one-stop shopping and competitive rates. They have gone so far as to subsidize direct air services on major airlines, such as American, United, and Delta, into local airports in the competition to get skiers to their resorts in the fastest, most convenient way possible.
Children's programs also present a huge opportunity (the idea is not only to make it easier for parents to ski but also to "hook" the little ones on skiing early so that they will be the skiers of the future). A decade ago, children's ski programs had to fight for recognition within a ski resort marketing was targeted at single women and young executives. Today, the focus has shifted to families, with emphasis placed on nurseries, day camps, ski school, and family activities. With this shift has come the need of caretakers for infants, of activities directors, and of ski instructors for older children.
Back in the 1950s and 1960s, ski areas were precisely that- places where people went to ski. Now, more and more areas are emerging as true destinations with a full range of non-ski activities. Health spas, jeep tours, dog sledding trips, indoor sports (tennis, racquetball), and ice skating are all now available as ski areas focus on the challenge of satisfying skiers and non-skiers alike.
Ski areas have actively diversified by developing summer activities and programs as well in order to support local communities (which are usually dependent upon the ski resorts), keep people employed, and maintain cash flow year round. Many, like Stratton, VT, have developed tennis programs others, like Winter Park, CO, and Mt. Snow, VT, have established themselves as mountain biking centers. Telluride, CO, has opened a golf course and a major spa Crested Butte, CO, and Loon Mountain, NH, have created comprehensive "Sports Afield" family packages Attitash, NH, has alpine and water slides and gives gondola rides. Other areas, such as Aspen and Copper Mountain, CO, have cultivated music, dance, film, and cultural festivals Snowmass, CO, has developed culinary and wine events, Keystone, CO, woos conventions and meetings.
Surmounting Challenges
Other challenges to the ski industry include environmental constraints, which have prompted opportunities for government public affairs specialists (indeed, the president of Aspen Skiing Company, Bob Maynard, was formerly associate director of the National Parks Service). In addition, the ever increasing, cost of insurance and exposure to liability and the decline in leisure time and discretionary dollars present further challenges to be overcome by the ski industry.
Getting In, Rising Up
The ski industry draws people who are committed, even fanatical, about skiing and the outdoors. "You get to ski, to live and work amid incredible scenery, in the outdoors, in pure air, working with people who tend to be active, outgoing, energetic, and delivering a service that makes people feel happy," commented one industry executive.
Like so many prominent executives in the ski resort industry, Paula Sheridan, vice president of communications for Winter Park, CO, started her career as a ski instructor. After seven years, she seized an opportunity to become the first woman on Winter Park's ski patrol. She moved over into "risk management," which involved investigating accidents, interviewing people, and taking pictures. "Then, when I wanted more of a mental challenge versus a physical challenge, I moved over to management as a communications coordinator," said Sheridan, who knew she liked to write. Starting out as an assistant, she anticipated some on the job training three months later, the director left and she had the "sink-or- swim" option of either taking over or facing perhaps 10 more years before she had another chance for advancement.
Ceci Gordon started her career in the ski industry by answering phones and mailing brochures at Mt. Cranmore, North Conway, NH. In less than five years, she rose to director of marketing. "You get your foot in the door and then rise up," Gordon related. "Most companies are not as interested in your background as the type of person you are. You can work 7 days a week, 20 hours a day for 5 months. It requires a person with personality and drive; you can learn marketing, management, and how a lift runs.
"The industry isn't that old only 50 to 55 years. So many people who started out with a ski area are now managing it," said Gordon, who has since gone on to Cone Communications, a public relations company representing United Ski Industries Association.
Kent Myers, vice president of marketing for Vail Associates, epitomizes another key path into the ski industry through property management. He started as director of property management for Copper Mountain Resort, CO, and rose up by moving from one ski company to another. From Copper Mountain, he went to Winter Park, where he was director of sales and then vice president of marketing then to Steamboat Ski Corporation, where he innovated the first direct air program into a ski resort and then to Vail, where he also introduced direct-air programs as well as a full in house tour operation.
