Welcome back, Cookie
It is a little awesome to contemplate what it will be like to have him “full-time” in the ski world. When he was doing all his ski team fund-raising in his spare time he gave the impression, and produced the results of, a whole regiment of giants.
Cookie is a Trustee of the U.S. Ski Educational Foundation, and honorary vice chairman of the board. He heads up the New York Committee which annually raises a very high percentage of the total ski team funds.
And now he returns to the ski area industry in the broad area of marketing, sales, advertising, promotion and public relations for Big Sky. We says “returns” because Cookie was co-founder of Stowe’s Mt. Mansfield Co., and later of Mad River Glen, Vermont.
So welcome back, Cookie!
The Annual NSAA Economic Survey
Ho Hum — another annual economic survey. If this attitude prevails, the fourth annual Economic Analysis of North American Ski Areas sponsored jointly by NSAA (through its Economic Study Committee chaired by Jim Bartlett, Vail Associates) and the Business Research Division, University of Colorado,, will not be worth conducting. Consequently, the purpose of this editorial is to appeal for cooperation.
We urge every ski area operator to fill out the survey to insure valid results. Last year only 24 percent of the ski areas responded. We challennge you to do better in 1974. The Business Research Division has set a goal of a 50 percent return. It is hoped the response rate will be high enough to provide meaningful regional breakdowns as well as national totals.
In an effort to encourage participation and generate more operator interest in this and future years’ studies, we would like to hear from ski area operators on what approach would make the study more useful to them. The purpose of the study as presently conceived is to benefit operators by achieving the following objectives:
- To provide a basis to examine and evaluate your area against industry norms. In this period of inflation operating costs are particularly important as a focal point. One of the most useful aspects of the report should be to provide guidelines on industry economics to enable area operators to evaluate profitability and efficiency.
- To improve understanding of ski area economics throughout the financial community, most particularly ski area lenders and investors.
- To develop useful data on industry economics which would provide a historic perspective on the ski industry’s development and allow better interaction with all levels of government.
- To provide a vehicle for accumulating additional industry information on an annual basis for the purpose of providing information on specific areas of interest such as marketing techniques or personnel policies.
- To help fill the information void that exists on this important industry.
An objective of the Business Research Division is to not only collect the information and publish a report but to get the information used. If the information is worthwhile, it ought to be used. If not, the study shouldn’t be made in the first place. It is our intention to be as responsive to the needs of NSAA members as possible. For instance, at the annual NSAA meeting, members stated that the July 15 deadline was too early. Consequently, it has been changed to September 15 to fit the needs of area operators and encourage participation.
Please continue to give us this kind of input and help us to make this the most meaningful economic study on the ski industry ever published by mailing back your questionnaire today!
Charles R. Goeldner, Director
Business Research Division
University of Colorado
Some Thoughts on growth
The news these days is likely to turn us all into manic depressives as we lurch from “highs” that incomes are at an all-time peak, with corporate profits likewise soaring out of sight, to “lows” of predictions of financial chaos, depression and gold fever. We may all be forgiven our confusion when it is obvious the leading authorities are just as confused and probably just as manic.
As an industry, we are just beginning to take stock of ourselves, and this is important. Surprisingly and hopefully, we are ready to admit that our groovy, trendy, beautiful people industry is not too well anchored these stormy days. Not only are we admitting that skier growth, if there is any, is but a pale shadow of its comfortable old 16 per cent; but we are also hearing some realistic answers to why ski areas cannot get wire rope, snow-making hose, industrial engines without waiting 50 weeks or more—or indefinitely. These things are all being made, and in record quantities, and the companies that make them are posting record earnings. But the winter recreation industry is way down on the priority list. Why should production of miles of wire rope for oil drilling—big, clean, financially sound sales—be interrupted to run a few thousand feet of specialty rope for ski areas where the credit picture just isn’t very appealing. World markets are calling and we probably slip a few more rungs down the ladder. There’s no easy answer to these big-scope problems, except, perhaps, to encourage some Arab investment in our industry.
Knowledge will help, and that is why we are most enthusiastic about NSAA’s work with the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, which will result in a major research study on the winter recreational market.
And talking of knowledge, we urge our readers to get a copy of the June /July issue of Ski Business which is a gold mine of statistical data—admittedly geared for its retailer readership, but all valuable stuff for anyone in any phase of the ski business.
We particularly recommend the blunt, fact-filled article by Jim Spring, president of SMART, Inc., the ski retailing inventory control company which keeps a very accurate finger on the ski industry pulse. We quote a couple of his conclusions: “The industry as a whole has not been able to pull together a cohesive, sensible way to attract and keep skiers.” Later, in discussing the slow market in low-end package skis and the slump in high-end skis, Spring writes, “. . .it appears that the industry is losing beginners to other sports. . .Another key indicator of beginner growth is in rental sales, and rentals did not increase. In addition, this is the second year that demand for beginner equipment has dropped dramatically, which will be reflected in the near future in fewer purchases in the middle and better quality range. There is a dwindling number of people trading up to better equipment because there are fewer people beginning the sport.” That’s food for thought, isn’t it?
Our efforts and our money should increasingly go to creating new skiers, not swiping them from the other ski area. Somehow, our efforts should be subsidizing growth. It’s time to grow up from National Ski Week Queens and other tokenisms. We should be into projects that will make a skier beehive out of a city like Duluth which currently has all of 87 kids in recreational ski programs out of a school population of some 25,000. And then take a hundred more cities and towns.
A SAM editorial
