Diversity may be a 21st-century buzzword, but it remains elusive for the snowsports industry. Reaching out to ethnic or socioeconomic groups presents challenges. Ski areas from coast to coast have been identifying the stumbling blocks, though, and removing them. Flexibility and cultural consciousness have helped several areas make successful connections with ethnic, racial and religious minorities.

Consider the challenges of hosting parties of Orthodox Jews. They have strict dietary laws that make food service a challenge. These groups also require separation of men and women—they require separate pool times at resorts with water attractions, for example. Women must be modestly attired and so wear long skirts, making some rides and activities awkward or impossible.

Despite all that, several areas have successfully accommodated Orthodox groups.


Courting the Orthodox
Jiminy Peak, Mass., began welcoming Orthodox Jewish groups from northern New Jersey and New York seven or eight years ago. When 200 or 300 guests visit the resort’s Mountain Adventure Park (Alpine Super Slide, Mountain Coaster, and the like) and Aerial Adventure Park (aerial forest ropes course with five courses for different ability levels), the resort juggles staff so that female employees put admission bracelets on women guests. These groups are enthusiastic about the attractions, says David Cammer, the Berkshire resort’s director of lodging, and also enjoy boating on a nearby lake. And they keep coming back.

One benefit is that the groups visit midweek, when condo rentals are often light. They make individual family reservations, but generally arrive en masse on Sunday evenings for a few nights. Food service is not an issue, says Cammer. “We tried to offer kosher food,” but dropped the program, because, he says, it proved unnecessary. “They [the Orthodox Jewish guests] don’t use our food, but bring their own. They bring their own pots and pans and barbecue grills, too.”

Pats Peak, N.H., has also adjusted to Jewish groups’ dietary requirements. “When we have bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs, our chef accommodates,” says Jim Wall, director of events. “We follow their requests to the hilt. We have separate equipment.”

Windham Mountain, N.Y., annually hosts A Day of Yes!, a Chai Lifeline winter event for observant Jewish guests. This international health support network for children with cancer and other life-threatening or chronic illnesses organizes a number of excursions and events, including one at Windham. The outing is a chance for children and siblings to ski, snowshoe, go tubing and generally enjoy a day engaged and diverted from their health problems.

Mountain Creek, N.J., also has a long history of attracting Jewish summer guests, dating back to its days as Great Gorge/Vernon Valley. “We rent out our whole water park and get a lot of groups of kids from summer camps, but we try to do it out of normal operating hours,” says GM Bill Benneyan. The park opens at 8 a.m. for the groups, rather than 10 when the general public arrives, as that makes it easier to cope with separation of the sexes. “Girls can’t be seen in bathing attire [by men], so we need to restaff with females only. We create areas of seclusion, and rotate through different attractions,” Benneyan explains. Since these groups attend for the morning only, the resort does not need to address food issues, either.

And as unlikely as it seems for the famously Mormon state of Utah, a new kosher, fine dining restaurant recently opened at Canyons’ Silverado Lodge. The Bistro at Canyons is a modern American restaurant serving kosher gourmet dinners nightly. Since kashruth (kosher) laws require the separation of meat and dairy products, the Bistro decided to serve meat and no milk products. It also provides box lunches and even kosher to-go breakfasts for the following morning.


Asians and Other Groups
While Orthodox Jews are primarily summer guests, other ethnic communities are candidates for winter. With its proximity to New York and northern New Jersey, Mountain Creek has worked with various Asian communities, whose visitation has grown from about 3 percent to 8 or 9 percent of their business over the past decade. “This is not by accident,” notes Benneyan. “We have worked with Korean media to create affinity days. We bring in a menu of Korean food items and hang Korean flags. Korean weekends, including New Year in the first week of February, create initial business and have good word-of-mouth.”

Approaching Asian groups requires cultural awareness and working with group leaders, where language is generally no problem. When the group visits, Benneyan says there is a balance between the bilingual younger generation that is comfortable in, and often prefers, English, and the older immigrant generation that might come along to watch their grandchildren learn to ski.

Benneyan also sees a “big opportunity” with the Slavic community—a market that Peek’n Peak, N.Y., has long welcomed. The western New York area sees a lot of “inner city ski bums” from Cleveland, who come “regularly by the busloads” from the 24 member clubs of the Cleveland Metro Ski Council. The Council includes several clubs with strong Eastern European and African-American membership, all of which give the area a surprisingly cosmopolitan air.

Tahoe region resorts have also been tapping into the large and often prosperous Asian community with considerable success. Julie Maurer, now vice president of marketing and sales for Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows, dove into this market segment in her years as vice president of marketing and sales for Booth Creek Resorts, then owners of Northstar-at-Tahoe and Sierra-at-Tahoe.

“The Asian-American population is large and growing fast, and their demographics are similar to skiing,” she says, comparing income and education levels. “They are a lot like the mainstream American population of the 1950s—multi-generational families and brand-loyal.”

So the resorts developed a variety of programs aimed at this market. “We did learn-to-ski advertorials and created a learn-to-ski brochure,” Maurer says. “We reached out to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and its young professionals. We targeted organizations on college campuses. UC Berkeley is 40 percent Asian.

“We did some cultural inculcation with our employees and tried to recruit Chinese-American instructors,” she notes, adding that the Chinese-Americans have “a learning-oriented culture. They are dedicated to lessons and practicing.”

To this day, the efforts during her Booth Creek tenure are evident. Northstar in particular is the region’s market leader among Asian guests—especially snowboarders. The marketing tools have changed, of course; social sites directed at the Asian community are an increasingly important avenue to reach it. And Maurer remains “a total advocate” of addressing this market.