What Affects Demand for “The Greatest Snow On Earth?”

Abstract

Utah has world-class ski resorts, seven located within an hour's drive from the Salt Lake City International Airport. Such close proximity of resorts suggests a highly competitive market. This article empirically estimates how price, income, price at other ski resorts, weather, cost of transportation, and days of the week affect the number of visits for different groups of skiers at one resort. Skiers are responsive to changes in transportation costs and days of the week. The estimates are used to calculate the price elasticity of demand as well as the cross price elasticity of competing ski resorts. Results show that half-day skiers and college students are more price sensitive and hence more likely to select other ski resorts when own resort ticket prices increase.

Keywords:

• snow skiing
• demand
• elasticity