Cheap passes aim to lure the Kiwi skier

By DITA DE BONI

Glistening white mountain slopes, the swoosh of steely blades skimming through powdery white snow, the warm glow produced by an apres-ski aperitif - the New Zealand skiing experience offers many of the delights that can be found in Aspen, Blackcomb or Zermatt.

So much so that New Zealand has become an international skiing hotspot, aided by the fact that our winter season is summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

More than 40,000 overseas skiers flock to New Zealand slopes each year, bringing well over $100 million into the economy.

But while the best New Zealand resorts are gearing up to offer facilities comparable to those in their counterparts in North America and Europe - albeit on a smaller scale - the domestic market has not taken to our own skifields with the same enthusiasm.

Overall local participation - just over 45,000 of us ski at least once a year - has remained more or less static for 10 years, leaving operators "desperate to reverse the trend of locals staying away," according to a spokesman for New Zealand's largest player, NZSki.com.

This is despite considerable effort being ploughed in the past few years into a host of packages designed to entice the Kiwi skier, including direct marketing to guest databases, regional promotions, holiday packages and special offers which, by all accounts, are serving only to keep numbers steady.

But the ski industry is courting the domestic consumer base aggressively this season. Australia remains a hugely important market, but Asian visitor numbers are highly dependent on both economic conditions and trends, leaving a strong core of locals as the key to the industry's growth.

According to Tourism New Zealand, the number of domestic skiers picked up in 1999, although that was largely because a shortage of snow and the Mt Ruapehu eruptions in the North Island made 1998 a bad year.

Those problems plunged Turoa skifield, on the southwestern slopes of Ruapehu, into receivership, and South Island destinations suffered some of the fallout as well.

But now, Turoa has been merged with the Whakapapa skifield and the volcano has quietened once more.

However, a marketing challenge remains for both North and South Island ski spots.

The primary challenge, industry figures say, is to correct a perception that skiing takes too much time and money. This season, dominant players are going all out to sell the notion that a season pass is value for money.

It is estimated that up to 90 per cent of the New Zealand visitors use day passes rather than season passes. This is perhaps understandable, considering that an average season pass has traditionally cost around $1200, with accommodation costs averaging around $80 a night for motel lodgings and domestic travel - notoriously expensive - thrown on top.

But this week, prices came down to earth with a thud. The Air New Zealand-owned NZSki.com, which manages Coronet Peak, the Remarkables and the Mt Hutt fields, said it would offer an unlimited access, triple-mountain pass for $299, saving punters around 70 per cent on last year's passes.

Within half an hour of that news, competitor Cardrona had announced a similarly low-cost pass at $295 for its Wanaka facility and, a few days later, Tourism Holdings said it would offer unlimited access to Treble Cone for the season for a comparable $295.

The North Island's Whakapapa and Turoa fields, owned by Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, has announced a $250 pass.

The idea behind cut-price season passes, says NZSki.com general manager Duncan Smith, is to make skiing available to "more than the dedicated enthusiast."

"Research consistently shows that the biggest barriers to participation [in skiing] are time and money.

"The key driver behind the pass, therefore, is accessibility, both to the experience and purchasing decision, because the new season pass is designed to simplify the range of product options and pricing points and specials; in other words, to make the product more understandable and accessible.

"We aim to improve the quality of the experience itself and the perceived value - time is precious and the customer needs to be confident that their investment is going to be rewarded.

"Clearly, at $299, money is much less of an issue. With a season pass you're straight on to the lifts without having to stop for a ticket, and you don't have to commit for the entire day if time is a pressure."

Not only time but greater demands on the so-called "nature tourist" dollar have had an impact on skiing. Nigel Kerr, at Cardrona, says this is where cheap season passes can boost everyone's business.

He says part of the hammering domestic ski numbers took in the mid-90s was caused by increased expectations of food, carparking and related services fuelled by comparisons with what overseas destinations offered. Local skifields have had to lift their game.

"If you have a quality product perceived as being good value for money they will ski," Mr Kerr says.

"With season passes at this new, but equal, level, participation will increase and [eventually] better product will win out, unless someone has the volume to cut the market further."

At Tourism Holdings, general manager (commercial) Sean Murray says Auckland is prime ground for ski operators to market in, with the challenge to get old skiers back into the sport.

He says that while Treble Cone has a loyal and longstanding customer base, marketing to a broader market takes an entirely different strategy, one that hinges on making the experience as hassle-free as possible.

"New skiers are a bigger challenge. Skiing is not a cheap sport, and the hurdles to taking up skiing are considerable, not only in terms of equipment but also the skills you need to master."

As with all other things, the experience of skiing, especially in the South Island, is bolstered by a vibrant infrastructure.

Mr Murray says that becomes even more important as the South Island fields target Auckland skiers.

Aucklanders, like Australians, are looking for a total regional experience.

"As an industry, we've put a lot of effort into bringing Australians over here to ski, and the fact we can get so many when they have fields on their own back doorstep shows there is so much more we can do [domestically]."

The skifield players have set optimistic targets for domestic growth. Cardrona's Mr Kerr estimates a maximum of 28,000 to 35,000 active participants in the South Island at present, with that number expected to grow to 40,000 once discount season passes become standard.

At Treble Cone, which markets itself as something of a boutique skifield, Mr Murray hopes the new moves will revive the kind of interest from domestic consumers that skiing had 10 to 15 years ago.

NZSki.com's Mr Smith says that while 8 to 9 per cent of New Zealanders regard themselves as active skiers and snowboarders, and a further 9 per cent express a strong interest in trying the sport, "we have to assume that the growth potential is significant."

"If we could achieve a 10 per cent growth in domestic visitor day numbers we and the industry would be very happy."

Links


NZski.com
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