ABSTRACT
A review of academic and government sources suggested that six key attributes of ski resort attractiveness were: variety of runs, snow conditions, value for money, lift lines, staff friendliness and access to home. As part of a larger study in Victoria, B.C., Canada, a sample of 100 skiers completed personal interviews in which they were asked to rank order 29 resort profiles in terms of preference. Seventy skiers ranked the profiles for both short trips and long trips, with an additional 18 skiers evaluating short trips (total = 88 skiers), and an additional 12 skiers evaluating short trips (total = 82 skiers). Using conjoint analysis, the relative importance of the six attributes to ski resort choice was computed for both scenarios. Skiers were clustered, using these importance values from conjoint analysis. They were also grouped using demographic data, information on skier ability and motivation. Analysis of variance was used to test for significant differences between the groupings and analyse the validity and usefulness of the segmentation criteria.
