 Poster: A snowHead
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This interesting article from USA Today looks at the latest commercial thinking behind US ski resorts. The following points are made (in 'American'!):
- Resorts are increasingly adopting the "village" concept. They're adding retailers, spas, movie theaters, upscale restaurants and other entertainment to draw skiers and non-skiers year-round.
- Retirees are more active than their parents were and many baby boomers, who will begin retiring in droves by the end of the decade, are expected to buy primary or vacation homes in traditional ski areas.
- Skiers used to spend a lot of their day riding in chairlifts and standing in lift lines. But newer high-speed chairlifts are making the day go by faster. That means skiers need something to do when their legs have given out.
- Ski areas have traditionally been able to attract hikers and mountain-bikers in the summer but have been less successful drawing visitors in the spring and fall, also known as shoulder seasons, when the weather is less predictable. The hope is that shopping and other activities will make the areas look less like ghost towns in the off-season and provide a more even revenue stream year-round.
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Does this thinking translate to European ski resorts? Should we all be thinking of apres-ski shopping and movie-going, and retiring to the hills?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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This is already happening, it's small but there's a trend. In Morillon I've noticed a number of retired owners just from our coprop' meetings and nearer home round Gstaad I'm aware of a number of UK retired owners.
My own reservation about development and increased lift capacity, just looking at the ski experience not other impacts, is whether we're increasing piste capacity which we seem not be doing. I'm personally highly alarmed by this trend, it's going to make the runs increasingly unpleasant.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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ise, setting aside environmental issues for a moment, do you not consider the possibility that more terrain will be exploited, or need to be exploited to accommodate increased mountain users? Tricky area I guess. I suppose really it's a question of whether there will be more visitors or just current numbers getting up the mountain more quickly and making runs unpleasant.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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It's like the mobile phone companies. Lots of people have em, lots of people ski. The driver for the business is ARPU (average revenue per user). If a visitor comes to the resort how can I get additional spend out of them? Answer? More services to spend on. Cairngorm is doing it. Its really plugging the cafe opening before the lift. The proposition is: drive here and have big breakfast before heading up. The result £23 for the lift ticket and an extra £5 in the cafe till.
Given you can create a lot of new services without building new lifts, expanding territory (big capital spend) I think we'll see more of this service fragmentation. 1960 you bought a lift ticket from the lift company. Arc 1950 in 2005. You buy the ticket, the accomodation, the meals, the apt cleaning, the car parking. Then they invite you back for a spring MTB event, an Autumn arts festival etc etc etc
Cheers
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Mark Hunter, yes and yes I guess. But it's not being is it? It probably is environmental pressures that's stopping new pistes being added.
New links are different, like Les Arcs and La Plagne, but thinking of say, the Grand Massif, there's been quite a few new lifts and beds added but no runs I can really think of. I can't personally think of much different in say, 3V or Espace Killy, some itineraries have become pistes but that's about it as far as I can recall.
There's a marginal increase in ski areas at some times of year I guess if you account for more effective piste preparation and canons.
Maybe PG has some contacts at Les Arcs to ask this question to? Specifically, there's a lot of development round the domain, will the ski area increase? What's their strategy to deal with the increased numbers?
For myself, I'm becoming a little disillusioned by it all. I'm not jaded with skiing but I'm pretty bored of the whole mega-station, mega-crowds stuff. That's what the mass market demands though, the more runs the better, the more distance you cover the better skier you must be etc etc.
This weekend I reckon we'll be skiing at Ovronnaz and Les Marécottes for those reasons, they're places skiers go, not punters with ski pedometers on 
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Fri 4-02-05 14:18; edited 1 time in total
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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duh
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Fri 4-02-05 14:18; edited 1 time in total
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| Quote: |
| But newer high-speed chairlifts are making the day go by faster. That means skiers need something to do when their legs have given out. |
The report compares ski lift speeds with those of 9 years ago. But 9 years ago not many people used carver skis, and drag lifts were far more common, at least in Europe. My legs complain much less now than they did 9 years ago about my style of skiing: first on the mountain, last off and a quick sarnie on a cable car for lunch.
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ise, trouble is, unless new terrain is exploited, then the places like Ovonnaz and Les Marecottes will become a haven for more and more skiers as they try and escape the madness of over crowded mountains and restaurants that are buckling under the weight of excessive demand. They'll (the quieter resorts) then be tempted to attract more punters as the till roles start to run out.
A few times here, one or two people have expressed surprise at how some ski domains/areas have so far escaped the explosion of the mass market, so I suppose that given time, more of these areas will succumb, as saturation point is reached/passed elsewhere.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Mark Hunter, I think (and hope) they won't, there's no new large building in these type of places. What is allowed is small development. So, in Zinal for example it's pretty reasonable to buy some land and build a chalet on it. In most of Switzerland there's restrictions on foreigners buying. The situation Arc 1950 is in with high numbers of foreign owners just doesn't happen here. This is Switzerland of course, I think Austria is pretty much the same, France is something else.
However, there's another brake on this. Like I've said a few times already, most punters won't go somewhere unless it has at least 400km of runs, I really can't see that changing personally. I think the mega-stations can accommodate this demand without increasing the actual ski capacity at all and remain below a skier density that will actually stop the masses visiting. The tour companies obviously prefer this.
For the natives of the small remote villages this is great news, they get left with low density, high value travel, this appeals to the Swiss mentality greatly The Intrawest style developments take their profits away somewhere else.
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And yet...I do recall a discussion here a while back (or it could have been on the pre MO SC days) about the way that Swiss skiing as far as the holiday market goes, is practically on it's knees, having failed to embrace the "needs" of the mass skiing holiday market. The discussion ranged from the lack of modern lifts, resort links and general infrastructure etc.
I believe that such was the state of concern that Switzerland had become the poor cousins of European top flight Alpine skiing, that discussions were underway with Intrawest to look at investment to haul the nation's ski business back into contention as one of the prime destinations. From memory, I think Switzerland accounts for 4% of the British market, which weighed against France (42% - perhaps unsurprisingly) and Austria and Italy at 17% each does perhaps suggest room for growth - not that that is something you may welcome 
Maybe other European nations tend to ski in Switzerland?
I would agree that the mega-stations can handle the demand, but these things tend to be cyclical, and it's not hard to see the smaller less well known resorts attracting more attention, perhaps. The pressure on those resorts in terms of income, employment and opportunity may prove harder and harder to resist...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Mark Hunter, I guess that's exactly what I mean. The reason people don't come here so much I would think is the lack of these mega-resorts.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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....perhaps for the time being ise.
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| Quote: |
| Maybe other European nations tend to ski in Switzerland? |
A lot of Germans and Dutch (and some Scandinavians) in my limited experience.
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