SUMMER OPS _ >>
THE DAILY DASHBOARD
believe the focus should be on offering more activities and events that visitors will return to enjoy time and time again, and not just one-and-done activities. SAM ’s “The State of Summer Operations” report, published in a supplement to the January 2025 issue, indicated that 38 percent of the North American ski areas surveyed planned to remove one or more activities in the next two years. Eighty-six percent of surveyed ski areas planned to add activities to their summer operation in the next two years. THE FOCUS SHOULD BE ON OFFERING MORE ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS THAT VISITORS WILL RETURN TO ENJOY TIME AND TIME AGAIN, NOT JUST ONE-AND-DONE ACTIVITIES. Once one or more potential new summer activities and/or events are identified, and before any final investment decision is made, it is important to compare their estimated ROI—includ- ing employee retention potential, climate change resilience, and introduction to new customers—and the strategic advan- tage of growing summer against the ROI of alternative invest- ments and strategic advantage of strengthening winter. Identifying Strong Summer Activities Here are specific research-oriented steps you can take to pin- point valuable summer activities: 1. Define the audiences you want to target with additional and/or more return-oriented recreational offerings, for example: • locals vs. vacationers • day visitors vs. overnight lodging guests • leisure recreation vs. sport • single adults vs. families vs. empty nesters 2. Consider the low-hanging fruit. Ask yourself: • Are there any existing activities that can be modified to increase their appeal (e.g., converting tennis courts into hybrid tennis and pickleball courts)? • Are there existing offerings that are already strong demand generators that could be expanded? To help identify these, look at how the usage and satisfaction of each of your activities correlates with key survey attri- butes, including Likelihood to Return, Level of Fun, Like- lihood to Recommend, and Overall Visit Experience. 3. Gather customer input. Simple ways to do this include: • Adding two dropdown, open-ended questions to your summer survey. Ask respondents with a low Likelihood to Return the reasons for their rating. Also ask if there are other activities they would like added. • Asking your guests which of your current activities and events attracted them to your ski area. Cross-tabulate the responses by first-time and returning visitor.
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4. Concept test potential new activities with your current and past guests. Do they find them exciting enough to return? »
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