Attributes of destination choice: British skiing in Canada

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of a preliminary investigation into factors affecting the destination choice of British skiers travelling to Canada. Various ‘decision’ elements have been discussed in the literature, including income, family size, cost, accessibility, skill level, snow conditions and terrain diversity. The results of this research suggest snow quality and diversity of the skiing terrain are two of the most important features of a destination for skiers with (respectively) an intermediate or advanced ability. While holiday cost was still a feature, as British skiers (in Canada at least), tend to come from Britain’s higher socio-economic groups, this aspect was not considered significant by respondents. This suggests ski destinations and holiday providers might be better placed putting more emphasis on the ‘ski experience’ and snow quality in British-based promotions, particularly given a significant growth of this market in recent years.

Keywords

ski holiday Canada choice attributes

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References

Richards, G. (1995b) ‘The UK Ski Market: determinants of destination choice and skilled consumption’, in D. Leslie (ed) Tourism and Leisure: Towards the Millennium, Vol. 1, Leisure Studies Association Publications , No. 51, pp. 193-210.

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Mintel (1996) ‘Snowsports’, Leisure Intelligence, June.

Ibid.

10.

Ibid.

11.

See for example, the 20 page ‘Destinations’ supplement to the Sunday Times, 19th October, 1997.

12.

Daily Mail Ski Magazine, November 1997, pp. 67-82 .

13.

Airtours Ski, 2nd edn.

14.

Richards, G. and Friend, K. (1995) ‘The UK ski holiday market’ , Journal of Vacation Marketing, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 259-263 .

15.

Tour operators declining to participate did so because: they undertook their own research; were concerned about ‘market sensitivity’ (albeit still interested in the results); or expressed a view that Canada was only marginal compared to their main activity and not worth the effort.

16.

The five or six large general tour operators include: First Choice Ski, Ski Thomson, Crystal, Inghams, Neilson and Airtours. These operators tend to dominate the British ski market, for whom product distribution is through five major ‘High Street’ travel retailers: Worldchoice (formerly AT Mays and some independents); Lunn Poly, Going Places, Thomas Cook and Co-op Travel, Mintel, ref. 8.

17.

Mintel, ref. 8 and Richards, ref. 14.

18.

In 1996, Mintel estimated the average cost of a ‘British’ skiing holiday was £380 per person, whereas this amount tends to represent the starting price for packages to Canada and the USA. See ref. 16.

19.

Mintel, ref. 8.

20.

Richards, ref. 14.

21.

The relative absence of ‘beginners’ and the large number of ‘advanced’ skiers may at first appear to skew the results, particularly when compared to the North American domestic market. However, the British ski market to North America is a more ‘experienced’ market, with the results presented here reflecting similar research findings on this topic by Mintel, ref. 8 and Richards, ref. 14.

22.

Mintel, ref. 8.

23.

Ibid.

24.

Ibid.

25.

Richards (1996), ref. 14.

26.

Most who visited the Rockies skied at both Lake Louise and Banff-Sunshine.

27.

Mintel, ref. 8.

28.

Ibid.

29.

See ref. 16.

30.

According to Mintel (ref. 8), during the 1995/96 ski season, approximately 130 different tour operators were offering overseas ski packages from the UK: only 32 of these were selling Canada, including the five to six large general operators; by 1997 this rose to 40 (see ref. 12 re October issue).

31.

Richards and Friend (1995), ref. 14.

32.

Mintel, ref. 8.

33.

While it is possible to ski in Scotland, and there are a number of ‘dry slopes’ throughout the UK, most skiers have traditionally gone abroad to ski. In 1989, France and Austria accounted for 75 per cent of all British skiing holidays (Mintel, ref. 8).

34.

Ibid.

35.

Moscardo, G. , Morrison, A. , Pearce, P. , Lang, C. and O’Leary, J. (1996) ‘Understanding vacation destination choice through travel motivation and activities’ , Journal of Vacation Marketing, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 109-122 .

36.

Godfrey, K. B. (1995) Canada Travel Survey: outbound travel from the United Kingdom, Autumn 1994, Oxford Centre for Tourism and Leisure Studies, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK , 80 pages.

37.

In December 1997, an independent Oxford (UK) travel agency promoted travel to Canada with a window display consisting of a 50cm tall soft-toy moose, a 1:2 full-colour cardboard cut-out of a ‘Mountie’, and A3 framed colour photographs of the Rocky Mountains.

38.

Using a 5-point ‘Likert’ scale comparing skiing in Canada to other countries (from ‘much better’ to ‘much worse’), respondents to this survey rated ‘resort hospitality’ as either much better (71 per cent) or a little better (19 per cent); four out of five stated ‘value for money’ was better; and nearly three quarters believed piste-quality was also better. Overall holiday satisfaction was given as being either very satisfied (70 per cent) or satisfied (27 per cent), with most skiers indicating a return visit in the near future: 40 per cent during the next season, and about half in the next two to three years.