Page 26 - Early Winter 2014

slowing of the visitor aging trend, a pla- in their lifetime, with 64 percent of agreed that “I tend to be very vocal in teau in the use of season passes, a sta- respondents saying they had intro- recommending resorts to friends and bilization of years of participation in duced at least one person. As might be family” on a scale where 1= strongly dis- snowsports, and a slight decrease in days expected, lifetime introduction volumes agree and 10 = strongly agree. Overall, of snowsports participation per per- increase as participants become older, 45 percent strongly agreed (responding son, as noted elsewhere in this article. more skilled, and avid. Also of note, 9 or 10), 28 percent agreed moderately Additionally, the industry has been plac- introduction volumes are only moder- (7 or 8), and 26 percent had a low level ing greater emphasis on beginner pro- ately correlated with stated likelihood of agreement (1 to 6), with an overall grams as part of the Model for Growth of recommending skiing/snowboarding average agreement score of 7.8. Stated efforts, which may be helping to bring in to a friend or colleague, illustrating the vocalness shows a moderately strong more lower-ability participants. gap in commitment level between rec- correlation with stated likelihood of rec- ommendation and introduction. ommending the resort visited (i.e., Net Slowing growth of helmet Promoter Score). This suggests poten- usage New data on dropout from tial word-of-mouth benefits for resorts Helmet usage among snowsports par- skiing and snowboarding in cultivating “promoters.” By the same ticipants continued to grow (albeit at This season, the survey form was mod- token, however, these results may also a slowing rate), increasing to 73 per- ified to probe dropout from skiing suggest that resort net promoter groups cent this season from 71 percent last sea- and snowboarding as separate sports. are in part distinguished by their self- son, with children, seniors, and advanced Overall, 36 percent of persons who had described vocalness, rather than simply participants again exhibiting the great- skied one or more seasons had dropped by their satisfaction with the resort. est usage. While adoption continued to out of skiing in one of the previous five increase in many age groups, usage rates seasons. By contrast, a lower 26 per- Long-term increases in guest appear to have leveled off or declined cent of persons who had snowboarded satisfaction ratings and net slightly in the younger-than-35 and one or more seasons had dropped out promoter scores 65-and-older age groups, perhaps sug- of snowboarding in one of the previous Average satisfaction ratings have gener- gesting that saturation levels have been five seasons. These results might indi- ally improved over the past several sea- reached or may be approaching satura- cate that snowboarders may be more sons, with the greatest gains noted for tion in some subgroups. committed to their sport—or, alterna- overall rental experience, overall food tively, that they are less likely to return and beverage, overall employee ser- New insights on introduction after dropping out. vice, and friendliness of lift operators. of newcomers to skiing and Relatedly, resort and snowsports net snowboarding Vocalness in recommending promoter scores have also trended up In a new survey question, respondents resorts to friends and family over the past several seasons, although indicated they had personally introduced In a new question, respondents were they have dipped slightly the past an average of 4.2 people to snowsports asked to rate the extent to which they two seasons after reaching unusually high levels in 2011-12. These posi- tive findings are tangible evidence that resorts have been making meaningful improvements to the quality of the visi- tor experience. DATA HIGHLIGHTS BY REGION The following tables provide a detailed breakdown of skier and snowboarder demographic trends by NSAA region (see pg. 26). Order the complete 2013-14 NSAA National Demographic Study online at nsaa.org. G 24 | NSAA Journal | EARLY WINTER 2014 w w w.nsaa. org NSAA Early Winter 2014 prepressed v5b.indd 24 10/29/14 6:07 PM