Ski Market Research Articles

Sweden as a last resort for European skiing? An outbound market perspective

ABSTRACT Previous work identified Northern Swedish skiing as a beneficiary from worsening climate change, with its relative improvement in snow reliability increasing its attractiveness over areas of the European Alps. This study advances the supply-side discussion of Northern Sweden as a ‘last resort’ with demand-side insights. It examines whether Europe’s major outbound ski market would adapt its destination choice due to climate change impacts on European skiing. A survey of 296 skiers was administered through the Ski Club of Great Britain. British ski tourists held negative perceptions of the price, accessibility, and quality/variety of ski terrain in Sweden. These concerns improved amongst those who had visited Sweden to ski, demonstrating familiarity with Swedish skiing may overcome barriers to substituting away from the European Alps. British ski tourists ranked snow conditions as the most important factor in their destination choice, thus snow reliability should form the basis of Swedish destination image moving forward. The majority of respondents (76%) opted for spatial substitution under poor snow conditions, ranking Sweden as the fifth most popular substitution destination, after four major Alpine ski nations, indicating that until climate reliable locations in the European Alps are exhausted, Sweden may not benefit substantially from climate change adaptation.

The impact of ski servicescape on tourist loyalty: evidence from Chinese market

ABSTRACT With the rapid development of the Chinese ski tourism industry, there has been a surge in public enthusiasm for participating in ski tourism. However, ski tourists exhibit a low per capita skiing frequency, indicating room for improvement in their loyalty. Based on Stimulus-Organism-Reaction (SOR) theory, this study examines the impact of ski servicescape on tourist loyalty, positing that physical servicescape, social servicescape and social symbolic servicescape within the ski servicescape all exert a significant positive effect on flow experience and meaningful experience. However, natural servicescape does not demonstrate a significant effect on either flow experience or meaningful experience. Furthermore, both flow experience and meaningful experience significantly contribute to tourist loyalty. Additionally, the gender of ski tourist moderates the relationships between ski servicescape and tourist loyalty. The present study contributes to the existing research on servicescape and tourist loyalty by providing empirical evidence from the Chinese ski market, thereby offering a theoretical foundation and methodological guidance for the design and management of ski servicescape.

Current Situation and Future Development Trend of Global Skiing Tourism Market

The global ski tourism market has been in a relatively mature period. However, passenger flows are stagnating in many countries and the growth perspectives are not very appealing. This change of the tourism market troubled the entire ski industry with new challenges, leading to the ski tourism industry model established in the 20th century failing to meet the current development needs. According to multiple data sources, including relevant industry reports and the latest data from internetm, this article based on a variety of these reports and the latest data from website, analyzed the ski tourism market's both sides of supply and demand, systematically summarized the evolution of ski tourism industry since the 21st century, discussed the process of the ski tourism industry's development and the economy's growth, and revealed the relationship between the influencing factors of ski tourism market's potentials. Meanwhile, the main problems and challenges in the ski market were also summarized. The results showed that global ski tourism had entered a mature stage since the beginning of 2000. Moreover, there was a specific correlation between skiing participation rate and GDP, which varied with the regional economic level and the maturity degree of skiing industry. Despite some impacts from COVID-19, the ski industry in most regions exhibited signs of recovery in 2021. The Winter Olympic Games in China have brought new opportunities to the skiing industry and have been expected to encourage global participation in skiing. However, some existing ski resorts in different countries and regions may not significantly contribute to the future development of global ski tourism, and the potential growth of ski tourism market might be small and mainly concentrated in China. At present, the biggest threat to the ski market is baby boomers having long been the bulk of ski resort visitors. The ski market is faced with this aging problem and the widespread phenomenon of ski culture fault. How to meet the needs of this new generation of customers who lack ski backgrounds or cultures is a severe challenge for all emerging and existing ski resorts around the world. Besides, public transport accessibility, service quality and resorts operation capacity have also been the improvement direction of the ski market in dire need.

Is snowmaking climate change maladaptation?

Snowmaking has been an integral part of the multi-billion-dollar ski industry in most regional markets for more than 20 years and is one of the most visible and widespread forms of climate adaptation in the tourism sector. Under accelerating climate change, snowmaking is projected to increase at most destinations - some substantially. Snowmaking has come under increasing criticism in recent years and branded by some scholars and ski industry observers as unsustainable and maladaptive as a climate change response. Using data on snowmaking from across the diverse US ski market, this study assesses snowmaking against multiple established criteria that define maladaptation. The analysis demonstrates that snowmaking is highly place-context specific, varying at the individual operator and regional market scales, and represents a continuum from successful (and sustainable) adaptation to maladaptation. Regions of the US where snowmaking is most likely to be maladaptive are identified (water insecure and carbon intense electricity grids). The framework highlights the importance of scale and a tourism system perspective when assessing (mal)adaptation and provides decision-makers with a tool to evaluate the compatibility of snowmaking with climate action plans at the destination and regional scale.

Development of summer skiing days in Austrian glacier ski areas in the first two decades of the twenty-first century.

Summer skiing on glaciers is a leisure activity highly dependent on natural factors like weather and glacier conditions. While the literature agrees that climate change is shaping the fate of summer skiing, longer time series covering both the supply and demand side of glacier/summer skiing, and research that combines natural and non-natural factors affecting the summer ski market are missing. To close this research gap, we conducted a detailed supply-side analysis of nine Austrian glacier ski areas focusing on the number of operating days (in the summer half-year, as well as for meteorological and astronomical summer ski definitions), show how these numbers evolve over time, test how they correlate with meteorological and glaciological data using time-series regression models on a yearly and monthly basis, and highlight how managerial decisions come into play when trying to explain the summer ski supply’s decline. Between 2002 and 2019, summer ski operating days in Austrian glacier ski areas declined by 48.3% in the summer half-year, 65.2% in the meteorological, and 62.3% in the astronomical summer parallel to rising mean temperatures and shrinking glaciers. This decrease is strongest in June to September and weakest in May and October but in two glacier ski areas, the operating days in the summer season remain constant or are even on the rise. This is in line with model results indicating that meteorological and glaciological data only explain parts of the variance of the decline trends. Operators’ agency, strategies, and decisions play an important role underlining that global warming is not monocausally determining summer ski operation.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00484-022-02371-6.

Exploring the Tourism Experience of Beginner Skiers in the Emerging Ski Market

The skiing economy is a typical experience economy, so understanding the experience of ski tourists is essential to the development of the destination. To enrich the tourism experience research in the emerging ski market, this paper studies the 7118 online reviews of beginner skiers by selecting the main ski resorts in China as a case study. The content analysis method and sentiment analysis based on the domain lexicon and custom rules are combined to explore the perception characteristics of the beginners from the two aspects of experience dimension and experience satisfaction. Three main results were found. (1) The five main dimensions that affect the ski tourism experience of beginners are interaction perception, price perception, reputation perception, risk perception and functional perception. (2) For beginners, skiing is the primary purpose of tourism instead of being the critical factor of the positive reviews. They pay more attention to the pleasure produced by interpersonal interactions. (3) From 2014/2015 ski season to 2010/2021 ski season, the positive sentiment of beginners had no obvious change, while the negative sentiment showed a continuous downward trend, and the negative sentiment was mainly distributed among reviews on price, low temperature and service. This paper not only expands the research perspective of ski tourism, but also provides managerial inspiration for ski destinations interested in attracting beginners from the emerging ski markets.

Analysis of Destination Images in the Emerging Ski Market: The Case Study in the Host City of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games

This study aims to propose a text mining framework suitable for destination image (DI) research based on UGC (User Generated Content), which combines the LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) model and sentiment analysis method based on custom rules and lexicon to identify and analyze the DI in the emerging ski market. The ski resorts in the host city of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games are selected as a case study. The findings reveal that (1) 9 image attributes, out of which two image attributes have not been identified before in winter destination studies, namely beginner suitability and ticketing service. (2) In the past seven snow seasons, the negative sentiment of tourists has shown a continuous downward trend. The positive sentiment has exhibited a slow upward trend. (3) For tourists from destination countries affected by the Winter Olympic Games, the destination image will be improved when the destination meets their expectations. When the destination cannot meet their expectations, the tourists still believe that the holding of the Winter Olympic will enhance the destination’s situation. The theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.

Research on the Innovation Strategy of Snowboard Business Model Based on the Improvement of Connecting Elements and Self-embedded Connecting Technology

In recent years, the prevalence of skiing at home and abroad has enriched the application scenario of skis; and for China, where the penetration rate of ice and snow sports is less than 1%, its development space is very huge, and at the same time, since most of the ski connection technology is glued and polluted, its environmental design is urgent. This paper is based on a more environmentally friendly and efficient advanced connection technology, the business model innovation strategy research of snowboard in sports equipment. Through the open point hot melt system of snowboard equipment, customized self-embedding system, fully automatic and highly intelligent self-embedding connection process, can achieve the ultimate goal of better than the current connection manufacturing technology whether it is hand-made, or automated gluing. In terms of business model, a business model suitable for the characteristics of this technology and the ski market has been studied. Through the three target markets, from the agency or OEM model, we gradually develop into a pioneering enterprise involved in front-end equipment development. Through the way of stable direct sales revenue to ensure a healthy cash flow and eventually achieve a deep integration of nested products with customer companies.

Ski tourism in a warmer world: Increased adaptation and regional economic impacts in Austria

Climate change risk has gained considerable attention within the ski industry and its investors. Several past studies have overlooked the adaptive capacity of snowmaking and within-season demand variation and therefore overestimated climate change impacts. This study of the Austrian ski market (208 ski areas) including snowmaking found impacts are substantial and spatially highly differentiated, but nonetheless manageable (season length losses of 10–16%) for the majority of ski areas until the 2050s under a high emissions pathway (RCP 8.5) or even the 2080s in a low emission pathway (RCP 4.5). The economic impacts of reduced operations are largely concentrated in regions less dependent on tourism. Preserving this sector in high-risk areas can be considered maladaptive, but may be important to maintain demand. A sustainable end-of-century future for a high proportion of Austria's ski areas is dependent on achieving the low-emission future set out in the Paris Climate Agreement.

Effects of ski lift ticket discounts on local tourism demand

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a first evaluation of the effectiveness of the early bird discount on ski lift tickets by estimating the impact on hotel overnight stays of the Saas-Fee destination.Design/methodology/approachThe difference-in-differences (DID) approach is used to compare winter sport destinations with and without the price reduction before and after the introduction of the price discount. The sample is composed of the 54 largest Swiss winter sport destinations for the seasons 2013/2014 and 2016/2017.FindingsDID estimations show an increase in overnight stays of Swiss residents by 50 per cent as compared to the control group. Quantile regression estimations for the conditional upper part of the overnight stays distribution reveal a lower average treatment effect of 38 per cent. However, DID estimates for total overnight stays (domestic and foreign) are much smaller – about 17 per cent – indicating that the price reductions are not effective in attracting foreign visitors. Results are not sensitive when taking into account a large number of control variables (elevation, size and snow making capacity).Research limitations/implicationsAs tourists visiting winter sport destinations are interested in a mix of activities, lift ticket revenues or number of skier days should be used as an alternative outcome measure.Practical implicationsAs positive effects on local tourism demand are mainly limited to Swiss tourists, such price strategies should be carefully considered. In the long term, the skiing market will stagnate or even shrink for several reasons (population ageing, climate change and changes in leisure preferences).Originality valueThis paper provides a first quantitative evaluation of price discounts in tourism research. Knowledge about the discounts and consumers reactions to sales promotions are of great interest to marketing managers in today’s competitive ski market.

Identification and stereotypes as determinants of brand extension potential

Current research suggests that social identification processes play an important role in markets. In this study, the authors propose that marketing research has neglected one important factor, which influences the success of a brand extension, namely the group processes between social groups and brand communities framing the new product introduction. Based on social identification theory, the authors derive a framework integrating identification and stereotyping processes, simultaneously testing for drivers of brand extension potential, which have been found to be important in past empirical studies. Using a structural equation modeling approach, the authors test for in-group and out-group effects in two hypothetical brand extension scenarios of one snowboard brand (Burton), and a surf brand (Billabong) into the ski market. They find that the social identification processes underlying the new product introduction significantly drive the potential success of the brand extension. By being the first study to explore the role of identification and stereotype effects in brand extension, the authors make an important contribution to research in this area. Moreover, our study provides important implications for brand managers planning to extend their brands into new product categories.

Digging deep into the experience – flow and immersion patterns in a mountain holiday

Digging deep into the experience – flow and immersion patterns in a mountain holiday

The geography of skier adaptation to adverse conditions in the Ontario ski market

Key Messages Spatial patterns of skiers may vary as a result of snow conditions. This study examined where and how far skiers in Ontario (Canada) are willing to travel in response to local lack of snow. Majority of respondents (59–60%) would travel to five key resorts in Ontario; an additional 11–15% of respondents opted to travel to Quebec or the state of New York.

A georeferenced agent-based model to analyze the climate change impacts on ski tourism at a regional scale

One main argument for modeling socio-ecological systems is to advance the understanding of dynamic correlations between various human and environmental factors, including impacts and responses to environmental change. We explore the shift in skier distribution among ski resorts taking into account the behavioral adaptation of individuals due to the impact of climate change on snow conditions. This analysis is performed at a regional scale by means of a coupled gravity and georeferenced agent-based model. Four different scenarios are considered. Two scenarios assume an increase of winter mean temperature of +2°C and +4°C, respectively, taking into account only natural snow conditions. Two additional scenarios add the effect of snowmaking to enhance the natural snow depth and extend the skiing season in the +2°C and +4°C base scenarios. Results show differing vulnerability levels, allowing the classification of ski resorts into three distinct groups: (1) highly vulnerable ski resorts with a strong reduction in visitors attendance for all climate change scenarios, characterized by unfavorable geographical and attractiveness conditions, making it difficult to ensure snow availability in the future; (2) low vulnerability ski resorts, with moderate reduction in season length during a high climate change scenario but no reduction (or even an increase) in a low one, characterized by ski resorts with a medium capacity and attractiveness to ensure enough snow conditions and capture skiers from other ski resorts; and (3) resilient ski resorts, with good conditions to ensure future snow-reliable seasons and outstanding attractiveness, allowing them to offer longer ski seasons than their competitors and potentially attracting skiers from other closed or marginal resorts. Ski resorts included in this last group increase their skier attendance in all climate change scenarios. Although similar studies in the literature foretell a significant reduction of the ski market in the near future, another probable effect outlined in this study is a redefinition of this market due to a redistribution of skiers, from vulnerable ski resorts to more resilient ones.

CAN A SMALL WINTER RESORT BE MANAGED AND MARKETED LIKE A LARGE ONE: A CASE OF BULGARIAN SKI RESORT BANSKO

Throughout the world today there are about 80 countries which practice various winter sports. Regardless of the wide geographical range demand in terms of existing infrastructure is highly concentrated in a few regions of the world. To be competitive ski resorts have to deliver good experiences and excellent value to tourists. Current community officials and destination managers of the Bulgarian ski resort of Bansko believe that the main weakness of this ski centre is the extensive waiting at the bottom gondola station and advocates expansion of the ski runs and lift capacity. The aim of the article is to research the strengths and weaknesses of the resort in regional and world context and to prove that further expansion will not forge a strong emotional connection with visitors and thus will not bring success in destination markets. The methodology used in this article follows three steps: 1) Literature review on the nature of the ski market in the world, as well as factors contributing to effective destination management; 2) International, national and regional data analysis of existing secondary data on winter sports market and 3) Qualitative study carried out with a purposive sample of key informants. The SWOT analysis based on the results of the qualitative study show that touristic shareholders in Bansko should apply an appropriate strategy for small winter resorts by offering a unique product that speaks to the world instead of trying to promote universal broad product for the mass market. Key word: destination, market, marketing, resort, strategy, tourism

From ski market to ski traveller: a multidimensional segmentation approach

For many ski resorts, the segment of skiers who are likely to take an overnight trip is relatively small in comparison to the number of day-trip skiers. A study undertaken for the Quebec Ski Resort Association surveyed 800 skiers, snowboarders, and ski travellers to develop detailed profiles of all skiers, from the recreational to the traveller. The objective of this paper is to expand the travel ski market by identifying recreational skiers with propensity to travel for ski. Using factor analysis to measure service considerations (e.g. offers, entertainment, quality, service, difficulty, and variety) and lifestyle characteristics, seven distinct skier profiles emerged. While the passionate ski traveller segment represents only 12% of skiers, 29% of social skiers and 16% of extreme skiers have the potential for conversion to ski travellers, given the right conditions. In addition, detailed skier profiles were developed for each of the ski resorts with comparison data for the province as a whole. This method of sophisticated marketing is necessary to grow “white tourism”, but can also be applied to other leisure and tourism markets.

“Winter sports under a summer sun”: the marketing of Sun Valley ski resort in the 1930s

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the growth of the early ski market and the marketing strategies that the Union Pacific Railroad took in promoting Sun Valley ski resort, one of the most popular early destination ski resorts in the USA.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses primary and secondary source material, including ski periodicals, national magazines and the manuscript collection of W. Averell Harriman, the Chairman of the Union Pacific Railroad during the creation of Sun Valley.FindingsThis paper finds that Sun Valley pioneered the western ski vacation by conducting careful market research into not only the snow and weather conditions of western mountains, but also into the habits and economic potential of skiers and winter tourists.Originality/valueScholarly work on skiing has primarily looked at the sport from the social and cultural perspective of skiers. Work on entrepreneurial objectives of ski resort designers has largely focused on the period after the Second World War. This is among the first works to analyze entrepreneurial activities and marketing strategies in the ski industry before the Second World War. As a result, the paper challenges the idea that big business only began to shape the ski industry during the Cold War. Instead, this paper shows that large corporations like the Union Pacific Railroad were influential in growing the ski market by building resorts that illustrated the importance of market segmentation to the success of ski areas. In this way, the paper challenges the popular idea that Sun Valley was merely a media sensation and shows that it was a carefully designed business that exhibited a nuanced approach to changes in the ski market.

Alpine tourism

The spectacular increase in tourism in the Alps in recent decades has been founded mainly on the boom in skiing, resulting in both strong real estate development and an increasing array of infrastructures and ski runs. Today the ski market seems to have virtually reached saturation point and the winter sports sector needs to diversify its offer through innovation. After a review of the main factors of change in mountain tourism, the paper presents a grid for interpreting the life cycle of alpine destinations, identifying the phases that characterize their evolution. The conditions that may favour innovation in alpine tourism are then identified, as well as the contradictions that frequently accompany them. In most cases, innovation is the result of a process that begins within the alpine community, frequently encouraged and supported by national and international institutions and with whose help structural difficulties are successfully overcome.

From Underwear to Swimwear: Branding at Atlas and B.V.D. in the 1930s

Between 1886 and the mid-1990s America's favorite underwear, the drop-seat union suit, better known as long Johns, was manufactured in Piqua, Ohio, a small town situated thirty miles north of Dayton. There were at various times seven different companies in Piqua producing knit undergarments for men, women, and children. One company outlasted them all- the Atlas Underwear Company, which merged with the iconic B.V.D. Company in 1929. The longevity of the company, in part, was the result of the successful promotion of their brands. In addition to underwear, these brands included items such as sweaters and socks, and from 1930 until 1941 under the new B.V.D. label fashionable swimsuits and beachwear.1 Underwear and other textile products made by the Atlas Underwear Company eventually found their way to the shelves of large American retailers, some of whom were known for their mail order service: Sears and Roebuck Co., J.C. Penney, and Levi Strauss. Sometimes the underwear, however, did not carry the Atlas name. In the 1910s, their Richmond Union Suit brand became a big seller taking its name from the city where Atlas had a factory, Richmond, Indiana. The swimwear produced in Piqua under the newly acquired B.V.D. label was available in many of America's finest stores- Saks Fifth Avenue, Henri Bendel, and B. Altman's. Insight into the manner in which Atlas/B.VD. was able to secure and maintain a market for its products provides a case study for understanding earlytwentieth-century branding techniques and the relationships between retailers and manufacturers. Of particular interest is the approach taken to rebrand the B.V.D. name to establish its supremacy for swimsuits and beach attire, when it was already so well known for its quality men's underwear. The Atlas Underwear Company In its first year of operation (1900), the Atlas Company had the business of Sears and Roebuck Company and Levi Strauss. Many of the styles presented in the Sears catalog were Atlas products (Our Underwear Department). The years of World War I were likewise successful for Atlas; it became a major producer of underwear for the Army. Leo Flesh, President of Atlas Underwear, was, in fact, appointed chairman of the Worsted Knit Underwear Committee of the Council of National Defense. It was his duty to see that the proper garments were supplied to our soldiers (Story of Miami County 597). While the backing of the city and healthy competition were crucial elements to growth, a manufacturer needed to distinguish itself and its products. The Atlas Underwear Company, as did others at the time, became very aware of the of a brand name. Companies could spend significant amounts of capital developing brands. The goal was growth through greater selling power. One way to acquire branded power was to merge with it or purchase it. The Atlas Underwear Company did just that with two established brands in the underwear industry. The first was the merger in 1929 with B.V.D., possibly the most well-known name in men's underwear. After considerable success with the brand, the merger was dissolved. The Superior Underwear Company in Piqua purchased the B.V.D. name and plants in 1941, the same year that Atlas acquired the Allen-? Company of Wisconsin. Atlas gained considerable success in the late 1960s with products for the ski market, thermal underwear, and turtle necks, under the brand name, Ski Skins. In 1971 Atlas began using the Allen-? name for its products. Medalist Industries merged with Allen-A in 1973 and established a brand known as Medalist-Allen-A (Oda). Brands and Branding: What We Can Learn from Atlas/B.V.D. The branding of products in recent years has caught the attention of business historians. Titles of recent books cover the history of the subject as well as case studies, and the phenomenon of special product branding. And of course there are many texts on how-to brand products, institutions, organizations, and even yourself. …

Do Sleep Disorders Have an Impact on Blood Pressure?

In this article, the relationship, perhaps interdependence, between sleep-disordered breathing, hypertension, and obesity is discussed. There is strong evidence that sleep-disordered breathing and hypertension are related. On the one hand, the prevalence of hypertension increases with the number of apnea-hypopnea episodes per hour of sleep, whereas on the other hand, treating sleep-disordered breathing reduces hypertension. It has also been shown that this relationship between sleep-disordered breathing and hypertension is stronger in individuals with a high body mass index. Thus, it is concluded that in individuals presenting with hypertension, sleep-disordered breathing, or increased weight, the two other variables must be investigated and treated if present.