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Q: Jackson Hole’s #1 demographic comes from an island (ie more people come to Jackson from this island than from any other place on Earth). Can you guess which island?
A: Manhattan Island, New York City, New York, USA (not even the whole of NYC, just Manhattan!)
Jackson Hole put up some impressive skier visit numbers this year. In fact, they put up their all time high this year with 502,222 skier visits during the 2012/13 winter season.
“The increase in skier visits of 5% over last year was achieved despite below average snowfall that was 60% of average at the base and 80% of normal at mid-mountain and only one inch above last season on the upper mountain.” – Ski Area Management
Jackson’s 383” of snow this year was middle-of-the-road if you’re judging by their 5-year average of 469” per year. But, big snow isn’t what brings the crowds. Good marketing brings the crowds.
Jackson Hole knows what they’re doing and they know who their clients are. Granted, it doesn’t hurt that Jackson is a legendary mountain, but people still have the option of going other, easier to get to, cheaper places.
Jackson knows how to market to the upper middle class and how to facilitate getting them to Jackson from such far away places as New York, Chicago, and L.A. Jackson subsidizes direct flights from major airport hubs in big cities around the nation from November until the end of March. That means if the airlines can’t fill these flights, Jackson Hole purchases the every empty seat.
“This is also the first time JHMR has reached 500,000 skier visits. Only 17 to 20 resorts a year go over the 500,000 mark.” – Ski Area Management
Jackson is in the center of nowhere. The nearest “large” city is Salt Lake City and it’s 5 hours away by car, it only has 190,000 people, and they’ve got more ski resorts than they know what to do with.
Again, I’m coming back to the fact that it’s impressive that Jackson Hole can get so many people there. One more interesting question:
Q: Ok, so NYC is #1, where are the #2 and #3 demographics for Jackson Hole located?
A: #2 = Los Angeles, CA. #3 = Chicago, IL
This is even more impressive considering these are the 3 most populace cities in the USA.
US CITIES BY POPULATION:
#1 – New York City = 8.2 million
#2 = Los Angeles = 3.8 million
#3 = Chicago = 2.7 million
There you have it. Jackson is able to systematically draw in its visitors from people who can afford to come to Jackson from the three biggest cities in America (ie more people come to Jackson from LA, NYC, and Chi-town than from any other location on Earth). Very impressive, Jackson, very impressive.
Good work jax, now lets put in another tramicopter on the backside
I was pulling for Singapore
damn, I guessed Bainbridge Island…