Skiing sunset?

To ski industry factories, current spring orders always reflect events that have shaped the preceding selling season. Since the 90/91 bookings are showing a serious drop, it is interesting to see how it compare with 79/80, another meager year, and see what are the real causes behind them.

The drop of 1980, was mostly the result of a poor snow year combined with the beginning of a major recession. Unlike this season however, the drop in sales was limited to North America which, at the time, represented a third of the world market.

Today's situation differs in that Europe is where sales have dropped the most following three mediocre snow years. Unlike in the past however, these repetitious mild winters are seen as a mounting evidence that there could be some truth in the much publicized "greenhouse effect".

Out of superstition and in an effort to obliterate that grim possibility, the whole ski industry would rather stick its head in the sand, and see these events as temporary "flukes". Drought patterns certainly look less conspicuous now that ski areas have multiplied their snow making arsenal over the past decade and seem able to make do with very little snow.

Aside from that debate, this year's shrinking wholesale business, may go beyond snow availability and brings up factors such as changing demographics, new leisure alternatives, and some disquieting perceptions towards our sport.

Baby-boomers who fueled the expansion of skiing are getting tired. Their older bones don't want to fight the mountain anymore and many prefer gentler, kinder leisure activities such as golfing or laying in the sun... These people leave behind a substantial demographic gap that will only be filled - to a much lesser degree - with today's micro baby-boom. Unfortunately, there won't be enough skiers among them to replenish the parent's ranks...

Another cause for concern, is the relative inconvenience of skiing which often means logistical nightmare on the way to most slopes. In contrast, going on a cruise or laying on a beach is much simpler; big deal if the airline loses a bathing suit! By remaining a patchwork of mismatched services, our sport makes it hard on the would-be skier. From finding and hauling skis at the airport, to getting a rental car, driving to the area, locating the keys to the right condo and finally finding it, all the way to lining up for a lift ticket, skiing can be a testing experience! Contrast that with a cruise or a Caribbean vacation, and it becomes easy to see why we are at such a disadvantage...

Our greatest enemy however, is one that is also taboo, that no one in the skiing circles want to admit... It has replaced the "leg-in-the-cast" as a cliche. Simply, it is that too many non-participants perceive skiing to be extremely expensive... Without engaging into costly market studies, the prevailing answer from ex-skiers as to why they have dropped out, is "skiing has become so expensive"... Even in showing that cost of skiing has held well against the C.P.I., our past and potential clientele don't seem to understand why they have to pay so much for equipment and services while, on one hand, other consumer goods have generally staid level or gone down in price, including far-away vacations in the sun...

While Japan stills spends recklessly and seems immune from the high cost of skiing, this negative picture is being painted from Munich to Los Angeles, and this perception - I stress the word - is something our industry must reckon with immediately.

Of course, there are more areas of concern that we cannot cover in one single article. Some have to do with further consolidating the other arms of our industry such as USSA and PSIA and get them to work in unison with USIA. Others could deal with the way we approach the youth market and can turn them into staunch supporters of skiing. Before we do that however, we must take a look at a host of simple solutions that can be implemented to address today's situation and turn things around. In next month's article, we'll discuss some of them and assess their potential impact on business...