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« Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » Luring Asians To Ski SlopesBy  The resorts now count Asian-Americans as between 11 and 13 percent of its patrons. The vast majority of these participants are ethnic Chinese, and they skew young, with many more snowboarders than skiers. Clearly, almost a decade of marketing specifically to the Asian-American community in the San Francisco Bay Area has paid off. Booth Creek Resorts gaze fell on the Asian-American community, the fastest growing market in the San Francisco Bay Area, when it looked to expand its reach for Northstar at Tahoe and Sierra at Tahoe several years ago. The demographics are compelling: 49 percent of all Asian-Americans in the United States live on the West Coast, and Chinese comprise the largest portion - 20 percent. "It wasn't just the size of the Asian-American population, it was other characteristics," Julie Maurer, vice president of marketing and sales for Booth Creek, told The Industry Report. This huge community averages a younger age demographic, a higher household income, and higher levels of education than other markets - all elements that make it a remarkably appropriate fit for skiing and snowboarding. Maurer acknowledges that winning over Asian-Americans in its prime drive market region was not simply a matter of having fireworks on Chinese New Year. She began working with a San Francisco advertising agency. The agency, Dae Advertising, suggested running print ads in local Chinese newspapers. Although most of the younger members of extended Chinese-American families speak English, 75 percent also speak either Mandarin or Cantonese at home. (The written language is the same for both.) "We went out and shot photos of these people. The ads were about learning to ski, what you would need, what clothes were necessary. It was like an advertorial in Chinese," Maurer said. Booth Creek has moved to additional marketing through the years, including going after the massive numbers of Asian-American students at schools such as the University of California, Berkeley, as well as approaching the many social organizations with large numbers of young Asian professionals. The campaigns have taught Booth Creek useful lessons, Maurer said. One thing she learned was that this population likes to spend weekends and holidays as extended families. That means not just mom, dad and kids, but grandmother and grandfather too. "The grandparents might not be skiing, but they're in the lodge," said Maurer. Even the younger generation likes to travel in "rather large groups." She also learned that when it comes to group travel, Asian-American organization leaders expect to negotiate costs rather than settle for the initial fixed price - "something with which our people were not familiar." Vickie Wong, president of Dae Advertising, explained that this "is not about budget, it's about value. Pricing is in the blood." Once at the resort, she continued, the visitors took learning skiing and snowboarding seriously - so seriously that they wanted morning and afternoon lessons in a package, rather than free afternoons. But eye contact and individual praise, which is taken for granted in instructing Caucasians, may be uncomfortable for Asian-Americans. "It took some understanding," Maurer said. For a while, Booth Creek conducted diversity training sessions to help its staff cater to the new market's needs. It helped immensely to have a diverse resort staff. Maurer and Wong both have the sense that the desire to learn skiing and snowboarding is powerful among the newly arrived immigrants because they are imbued with the American dream, and snow sports are a key element in that dream. Said Maurer, "they do want to assimilate and skiing seems very American." Booth Creek has conducted a second tier marketing campaign by contacting Bay Area young professional groups, by offering lift tickets as door prizes at meetings of Asian-American organizations, by keeping tabs on online entertainment communities such as Club Zen, and by staging Chinese New Year events each winter. Whenever the date lands - always in late January or early February, "we have Chinese food specials, give out fortune cookies, have a lion dance and hold rice cake eating contests for kids," she said. "It's something we can advertise to the Asian community, but it's also something that our mainstream customers love," she concluded. But there are still some barriers. Wong says "the security and safety factor is important." That accounts for the desire for many lessons, "because the more they practice, the more they can get good at it, and not get hurt." What's more, she points out that 70 percent of the Asian market consists of immigrants who may not be totally fluent in English. That means much of the market remains to be tapped, said Wong. "The perception is there is no need for targeting programs. But I think that's deceiving," she said. "If you are not a fluent English speaker, you probably would not learn as well." Thus, Wong has noticed that a few individuals have begun to advertise native speaking instructors as part of ski weekends. She predicts that as soon as organizations or resorts begin to offer "Mandarin-language ski instruction, they would find a lot of interest. The timing is right." « Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » |
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