Ski Resorts Working To Bring Minorities To The Slopes
| AR Articles on the Demographic Transformation |
|---|
| Writing on the Wall (Aug. 2001) |
| Birth Rates: Who is Winning the Race? (Nov. 2000) |
| If We Do Nothing (Jun. 1996) |
| More news stories on the Demographic Transformation |
Huntington Lake, California—Skiers cut through a fresh dusting of snow, their skis hissing softly against the powder as they crisscross down the slopes, then grinding to halt at the icy base of the Sierra Summit resort where Richard Shimizu is taking a break.
Although the ski resort is in Fresno County, where almost half the population is made up of minorities, most people crunching past Shimizu in their ski boots are white. It’s a scene repeated in ski resorts across the country, where only three out of 20 skiers or snowboarders is a minority, according to marketing researchers.
“You see some Asian people sometimes, but few blacks and few Hispanics,” said Shimizu, who is Japanese-American. “It’s changing, but still there’s a big difference. We used to never think about things like ethnicity. Now people pay more attention.”
After years of stagnation in the 1990s, when the number of days skiers and ‘boarders spent on the slopes stayed the same even as the population grew, some resorts are trying to attract ethnic groups not traditionally tied to the sport, hoping to tap into a growing market segment.
As the nation’s demographic profile changes, the industry’s future lies in part in its ability to reach kids whose parents don’t ski—and who may have never seen snow before, said Bill Jensen, an executive with Vail Resorts Inc. and incoming chairman of the National Ski Areas Association, which represents 332 alpine resorts.
“These groups are the fastest growing population segments in the country,” Jensen said of minorities. “With the aging of the Baby Boom generation, this is what our customers will look like in 20, 30 years.”
Resort are advertising in Chinese newspapers, translating informational brochures to Spanish, stocking smaller boots Asians might need and introducing children from rural schools or urban centers to a sport they may only have seen on TV.
Change has been slow on the slopes, but it’s happening. In 1999-2000, minorities made up 10 percent of skiers or ‘boarders, but figures for this year indicate the number has grown to about 15 percent, according to surveys by the LeisureTrends Group, a Colorado market research firm.
Sierra Summit has put out information in Spanish and has some Spanish-speaking ski instructors. By working with schools in the San Joaquin Valley, the resort is also bringing in a steady stream of kids who grew up just out of reach of the snowcapped peaks.
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“These kids, it’s not that they wouldn’t enjoy it, it just isn’t in their culture,” said Boomer Devaurs, marketing manager at Sierra Summit. “It’s our hope they’ll come back and bring their families.”
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In Colorado, a similar program is aimed at building a connection between urban kids and some of the most exclusive ski resorts in the country. Places like Aspen and Vail traditionally draw international visitors undaunted by spending big money to hit the slopes in style.
It’s an appeal that has largely eluded minorities in nearby Denver. Jensen said only about 5 percent of Vail’s guests are minorities.
The cost of skiing at an elite destination resort coupled with the “hassle” factor—figuring out where to go, what equipment’s necessary and even who to go with—has worked to create a gap between Denver’s Hispanic population and Vail that is much wider than the 100 miles that separate them, said Roberto Moreno, founder of Alpino, an organization dedicated to diversifying the slopes.
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“A lot of resorts are recognizing that if they don’t reach out to people of color, they’re going to be losing a lot of business,” Moreno said.
The resorts have sculpted terrain parks—essentially skate parks for snowboarders—which come closer to the experiences of big-city kids, said Jensen, co-president of Vail Resorts Mountain Division, which includes the four Colorado resorts and Heavenly Valley at Lake Tahoe.
“They have a very urban feel,” Jensen said. “That connection is easier for people to make than putting inner-city kids on skis.”
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(Posted on October 31, 2006)