Happy New Year! It’s cold and snowing and there are still ski trips to be sold.
The results of a recent Canadian Ski Council poll suggest that our work is not yet over in the destination ski trip market. As of early December only 1 in 6 skier and riders surveyed had made all their bookings, 83% still had yet to book one or more of their trips with almost 60% having not booked any of their trips.
While trips taken outside the province in which respondents reside are booked somewhat more in advance, as of January there is still a significant share to be booked.
| Trips Taken Within Province | Trips taken Outside Province | |||||
| Month Trip to be Taken | Key Booking Month(s) | % Still to book (as of Jan) | % Book Feb or later | Key Booking Month(s) | % Still to book (as of Jan) | % Book Feb or later |
| November | Nov | – | – | Nov | – | – |
| December | Dec | – | – | Dec | – | – |
| January | Dec/Jan | 41% | – | Dec/Jan | 40% | – |
| February | Dec/Jan | 64% | 25% | Jan | 61% | 21% |
| March | Dec-Mar | 73% | 50% | Dec-Feb | 69% | 44% |
| April | Mar | 87% | 76% | Mar | 87% | 71% |
It would seem that skiers are willing to wait to book – likely to have a better sense of snow conditions as well as to see what deals they may be able to obtain.
Interestingly, we noted no significant differences in the booking time frames by province of residence, however this may be a function of not asking more specific questions related to booking (i.e., we did not ask if those who have already booked out of province trips are more or less likely to require airfare as part of their overall trip).
Lets get out there and help some skiers get to the best vacation of their life!
