The relative importance of ski resort- and weather-related characteristics when going alpine skiing

Abstract

In this paper, we examine how alpine skiers evaluate various ski resort- and weather-related characteristics using a conjoint framework. The analysis is based on survey data from 400 existing skiers at a large ski resort in the Inland region of Norway. The results suggest that the weather of the skiing day and the price of a lift ticket are the most important attributes to alpine skiers, followed by ski lift queue time and the fraction of slopes open. The calculated part-worth functions also reveal the most desirable and most unpleasant weather conditions for alpine skiing. This insight can be used directly by ski resort managers when forming new pricing strategies.

Keywords

• alpine skiing
• ski resort preferences
• ski resort characteristics
• skiing weather
• skiing temperature