Ski Resorts
Will BC’s Ski Resorts Be Forced To Close Their Doors?
A colleague of mine saved me page 21 from the November 10 issue of Maclean’s magazine, a long-standing Canadian news weekly. Page 21 was a full-page look at the British Columbia ski resort industry, and why it may be on shaky ground.
According to the article, the bad news is piling up for BC’s ski industry:
- Skier visits have flattened out, plataeuing in 2002;
- The average skier is getting older every year (current average is is 40). Interestingly, the article does not mention how snowboarding might help that situation;
- US visitors are not coming in droves like they used to (thanks to the current economic situation, Whistler officials estimate a 12 percent drop in visitors).
Pile in the massive fixed costs associated with running a report and it’s a recipe for trouble, the article says. Interestingly, it doesn’t discuss the fact that most major ski resorts are four-season destinations now, supplementing winter revenues with summer mountain biking and such.
The article is definitely worth reading. You can read the whole thing online here.
Discussion
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Every year I get up to Whistler it seems busier and busier. If it’s a skier only resort, maybe. But snowboarders are coming in droves and the snowboard industry/population is growing as a whole, so I don’t think they’ll be in too much trouble.
The less crowds, the better as far as I’m concerned. But of course I’d hate to see any of the resorts close.
In many of these cases, the winter is the slow season and the real money is made in the summer months.
Resorts might just have to get creative to ensure that they are turning a profit in the winter months. There is an infinite number of solutions which revolve around good marketing. Promotions galore, get more people snowboarding, work with partners such as travel agents and snowboarding clubs, etc.
If profits are falling, then the resorts need to react and then preact for the future.