Snowboarding Reaches Critical Mass at Slopes

American Demographics, Feb, 1999

Resorts seek attendance lift by wooing the X Set.

More and more kids will be navigating the mountainside on snowboards, not skis, according to the third annual TransWorld Snowboarding Business/National Ski Areas Association survey, released in October. The poll of 232 resorts revealed that nearly one-quarter (22.4 percent) of their visitors in the 1997-98 winter season were snowboarders. Within five years, that figure is expected to increase to more than one-third (34.8 percent). And the group most responsible for growth in the snowboarding market are teens: overall, 59 percent of the snowboarding newcomers were teens who said they had "never-ever" been skiing and snowboarding, compared to only 4 percent of people over 20 who "never-ever" tried either sport. Another 26 percent of teens "crossed over from skiing," compared to 12 percent of people over 20.

With more snowboarders on the slopes, resorts are courting these new customers in a more aggressive, targeted way. Nearly all resort executives responding to the survey said their venues now offer rentals, lessons, repairs, and events related to snowboarding. More are starting to open snowboard shops and snowboard-specific trails.

Resort owners have also realized snowboarding's importance to the bottom line. More than three out of four resorts said snowboarding was important to their overall profitability. "Resort owners would be in a world of hurt if not for the dramatic growth in popularity of snowboarding," says Sean O'Brien, managing editor of TransWorld Snowboarding Business, which cosponsored the survey.

Women are taking to the boards in a big way. The study reveals that female snowboarders are expected to comprise 38.4 percent of all resort snowboarders in five years, compared with 29.5 percent in 1997-98. The largest resorts in the Rockies and the Pacific West are expecting the greatest rise in visits by women boarders.

O'Brien bases snowboarding's broadening appeal in part on Madison Avenue's love affair with the sport, including commercials for products like Mountain Dew that glorify snowboarders and make them look cool. Special events such as ESPN's Winter X-Games and regional competitions have also added to the sport's reach.

By 2002, nearly half (46 percent) of those at the top of mountains in the Pacific West will be snowboarding down them, with 40.2 percent of enthusiasts in the Southeast expected to be on boards. Though the Northeast will still account for the smallest population of snowboarders in five years--27.3 percent of total anticipated resort visitors in 2002--the increase will still be significant, up from 18.1 percent in 1997-98.

And relations seem to be improving between the fuddy-duddy downhillers who lack patience with the wide, flat boards and the "Radical, dude!" youngsters who ride them. Eighty percent of resort owners say the relationship between alpine skiers and snowboarders is getting better. That may be due to the fact that resorts--which acknowledge that about 34 percent of their personnel ride the boards--have added snowboard courtesy staff and more ski patrollers on snowboards.

For more information, contact Rob Linde at the National Ski Areas Association, 133 S. Van Gordon Street, Suite 300, Lakewood, Colorado 80228. Telephone (303) 987-1111; fax (303) 986-2345, or e-mail at rlinde@ nsaa.org.

--Tom Maguire

The Show's the Thing

It's official: Televisions that allow viewers to order dinner, shop, and even take part in a local Town Hall meeting with a click of the remote, are here, and ever more sophisticated models are on the way. But do we really want them? A new consumer survey may have manufacturers wondering about that.

Arbitron's New Media Pathfinder Study, released in November, indicates that consumers may not be so hot for the bells and whistles that TV manufacturers unveiled at last month's Consumer Electronics Show. The study found that given the choice, most consumers would just as soon use the tube to watch good-old-fashioned entertainment, rather than as a hightech device to manage life's duties, such as shopping, sending e-mail, even notifying the police in case of an emergency.

The study surveyed 4,500 consumers between the ages of 16 and 74. Nearly half said they would be interested in watching old movies and television classics, and more than 40 percent said the same of live sporting events. Compare that to the one-third who said they would be interested in e-mailing or ordering tickets via remote. Even less (15 percent) were interested in participating in video discussions on community, political, or consumer issues. Not surprisingly, the younger the person, the less afraid they are of new technology. For example, 53 percent of young adults age 16 to 19 felt strongly that they would send e-mail through their televisions, compared to just one in four of respondents in their 40s.

But when it comes to shopping, youth isn't the deciding factor. Those in their 30s were most interested in looking for product information via interactive television, well ahead of their younger, early-adopter brethren. They also showed a greater interest in ordering catalog merchandise via remote. Younger adults (age 16 to 29) were most interested in ordering groceries through a special television set or looking at menus of local restaurants and ordering dinner, as well as tickets or reservations for movies, concerts, and other events or trips.