Ο χιονοδρομικός τουρισμός είναι μία σημαντική μορφή εναλλακτικού εγχώριου τουρισμού στην Ελλάδα που ελκύει αρκετούς επισκέπτες. Παρόλα αυτά χαρακτηρίζεται από ήπια ανάπτυξη και προβολή και για αυτό το λόγο απαιτούνται τόσο η ανάπτυξη νέων αγορών και στρατηγικών, όσο και μεγάλες επενδύσεις στον συγκεκριμένο κλάδο. Ο κυριότερος στόχος της παρούσας μελέτης είναι η διερεύνηση της ανταγωνιστικότητας με τη χρήση της μεθοδολογίας Importance-Performance και των ανταγωνιστικών πλεονεκτημάτων δύο ελληνικών χιονοδρομικών κέντρων, αυτό του Καρπενησίου και αυτό των Καλαβρύτων. Για το σκοπό αυτό διερευνήθηκε το καταναλωτικό και δημογραφικό προφίλ των επισκεπτών των δύο χιονοδρομικών, η σημαντικότητα των χαρακτηριστικών ποιότητας και η απόδοση αυτών στο κάθε κέντρο, η συνολική ικανοποίηση των επισκεπτών από τα κέντρα και τον προορισμό συνολικά, η εικόνα τους και η πιστότητα των επισκεπτών σε αυτά. Η έρευνα πραγματοποιήθηκε με τη χρήση ερωτηματολογίων. Διανεμήθηκαν συνολικά 300 ερωτηματολόγια στους επισκέπτες των δύο χιονοδρομικών κέντρων, από τα οποία επεστράφησαν πλήρως συμπληρωμένα 296. Από τα αποτελέσματα προέκυψε πως οι επισκέπτες του χιονοδρομικού κέντρου Καλαβρύτων είναι περισσότερο ενεργοί χρήστες σε σχέση με αυτούς του Καρπενησίου και τα σημαντικότερα χαρακτηριστικά ποιότητας είναι οι τιμές των εισιτηρίων των αναβατήρων, η ασφάλεια και υγιεινή του κέντρου και ο χρόνος αναμονής στους αναβατήρες. Ακόμη, παρατηρείται πως το χιονοδρομικό κέντρο Καρπενησίου αποδίδει καλύτερα σε περισσότερα χαρακτηριστικά ποιότητας σε σχέση με αυτό των Καλαβρύτων, διαθέτει περισσότερα ανταγωνιστικά πλεονεκτήματα και οι επισκέπτες του αντλούν μεγαλύτερη ικανοποίηση από τη χρήση του και την ευρύτερη περιοχή. Τέλος, συζητούνται πρακτικές εφαρμογές των αποτελεσμάτων και προτάσεις για μελλοντική έρευνα σε όλα τα χιονοδρομικά κέντρα της χώρας. / Skiing tourism is an important form of alternative domestic tourism in Greece, which attracts many visitors. Nevertheless, it is characterized by a mild growth and promotion and, therefore, both the development of new markets and strategies, as well as large investments in this specific sector, is needed. The main objective of the present study is to investigate competitiveness, using the Importance-Performance methodology and the competitive advantages of two Greek ski resorts, namely those of Karpenissi and Kalavryta. For this purpose, we have investigated the consumer and demographic profile of visitors in these two skiing centres, the importance of quality characteristics and their performance in each centre, visitors’ overall satisfaction from these centres and the destination in total, their image and the loyalty of visitors to them. The survey was conducted through the use of questionnaires. 300 questionnaires were distributed in total to the visitors of the two skiing centres, 296 of which were returned fully completed. Results showed that the visitors of Kalavryta skiing centre are more active users than those of Karpenissi and the most important quality characteristics are the ticket prices of the lifts, the safety and hygiene of the centre and the waiting time for lifts. Still, it is observed that Karpenissi ski resort performs better in more quality characteristics compared to that of Kalavryta, it has more competitive advantages and its visitors derive more satisfaction from using it and the surrounding area. Finally, we discuss practical applications of the results and recommendations for future research in all ski resorts of the country.

In 2003, the Centre for Operations Excellence at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business worked on a project for a company in the resort industry. The project was an initial attempt to develop and implement a pricing management practice for the ski lift ticket business of that company. Our main deliverable was the development of an Excel-based tool with a user-friendly interface that could help the company in their budgeting of the ski lift ticket business. After completing the project, we did some further investigation relative to pricing management techniques that could be applied to this sort of business, namely a congestible service industry. In this thesis we argue that a revenue management system could bring substantial benefits if implemented in this industry. We also identify the requirements and main features of a revenue management system applied to congestible service industries. Although revenue management is a very popular system in fields such as the airline, hotel and car rental industry, none of them can be classified as congestible industries. The ski lift ticket industry and similar industries possess one characteristic that differentiates them from the ones previously mentioned, there is no fixed capacity. This is the reason why we considered important to study the application of revenue management in congestible service industries.

The Himalayan region of India is experiencing rapid development in tourism, agriculture, highway construction and hydroelectric development. This research describes and evaluates the role of public participation in tourism development projects in these high mountain environments, using the proposed Himalayan Ski Village (HSV) development in Manali as a case study. Qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews, document reviews and participant observation revealed that there have been formal and informal opportunities for public participation in project development. The findings suggest that local people have been involved in project development activities, such as training for skiing, but not in the decision-making process related to the project. The majority of the participation activities were, in fact, instigated by the public including activities such as protests and court challenges. The findings also show that involvement in the participatory activities undertaken by the public and project proponent fostered instrumental and communicative learning outcomes.

The Himalayan region of India is experiencing rapid development in tourism, agriculture, highway construction and hydroelectric development. This research describes and evaluates the role of public participation in tourism development projects in these high mountain environments, using the proposed Himalayan Ski Village (HSV) development in Manali as a case study. Qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews, document reviews and participant observation revealed that there have been formal and informal opportunities for public participation in project development. The findings suggest that local people have been involved in project development activities, such as training for skiing, but not in the decision-making process related to the project. The majority of the participation activities were, in fact, instigated by the public including activities such as protests and court challenges. The findings also show that involvement in the participatory activities undertaken by the public and project proponent fostered instrumental and communicative learning outcomes.

Climate change is considered one of the primary threats to the sustainability of ski tourism around the world. Studies in several countries project the ski industry will be impacted by shorter ski seasons, greater snowmaking requirements, and a declining ski demand. Many supply-side studies suffer key limitations, such as the omission of snowmaking, leaving their conclusions highly questionable. This study utilizes the SkiSim 2 model to reassess the implications of projected climate change for two major ski tourism destinations in the Western USA (Vail, Colorado and Lake Tahoe, California) where previous studies projected major impacts when snowmaking was not considered. Historical climate data (1961-1990) and the stochastic weather generator LARS-WG are used to examine the impact of climate change scenarios for ski season length and snowmaking requirements by the 2050s. Comparisons with previous studies and implications for ski tourism development and planning will be discussed.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-170). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1994. / Typescript. Cover title. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 211-220).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1994. / Typescript. Title from cover. Title from title screen (viewed Sept. 5, 2007). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 211-220). Online version of the print original.

Title: Experience and risk sensation in ski touring Objectives: Main goal of this thesis is the analysis of experience and risk sensation of people practicing ski touring. To discover how athletes perceive these conditions and fears during the given activity, how does it influence their behavior and what are they doing to minimize the risks. Methods: All the data presented in the empirical part of this thesis were collected through semi-structured interview and a questionnaire with closed questions. There were 44 participants in the study between the age of 20 and 51. The data obtained through an online questionnaire were evaluated using Microsoft Office Excel 2010. The outcome values were entered into a clear table and further used for a more detailed analysis. The interviews were recorded using a tape recorder. The audio recordings were transcribed into a text version. After that the document was evaluated and rephrased into a more comprehensible form and divided into categories using coding method, which helped simplify the text manipulation. Results: The results of our work show that ski touring is a very emotional activity. Ski tourists experience many emotional, aesthetic and socially cultural experiences. Furthermore, the respondents also experience the state of optimum flow, which becomes...

This paper formally analyzes the role of yearly snowfall in explaining the changes in home valuations near ski resorts in the western United States. Using data on housing values for selected U.S. Census tracts, combined with detailed weather data, passenger arrival data from 10% of all commercial air traffic, and characteristics of nearby ski resorts, I find precise and consistent estimates of days of snowfall and number of available destinations by airport on housing values.