Business as usual on ski slopes

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 650, 20 August 1996, Page 1

Business as usual on ski slopes

Ski-gloved fingers are crossed on Ruapehu, hoping that the ski season is back to normal after a successful weekend with good crowds

on both Whakapapa and Turoa slopes. Whakapapa had about 2500 visitors on Saturday enjoying perfect conditions, with about 800 on Sunday

when the weather was inclement in the morning. Marketing manager Scott Lee said the numbers were about half of what they would normally expect at

this time of the year. He said having been open for 10 days now and no ash emissions, they were a little more confident. Ruapehu Alpine Lifts

plans to start adverti sing this week and the Bounce Back campaign, which is supported by the government with $100,000 and the Ruapehu and Taupo district councils ($50,000 each), is due to start in the first half of September. Mr Lee said all facilities apart from the West Ridge Quad and the Far West TBar were operating, with those two expected to be running by the weekend. "We're expecting numbers to pick up as word gets around," he said "things are a lot more positive — the staff have got a spring in their step now." Turoa had around 2500 people on Saturday, also with excellent conditions. Marketing assistant Brett Sheridan said while there were more cars on Sunday there were less people. He said the visibility was variable on Sunday and there were light snow showers through the day. A Wellington man, Stuart King, wOn a "romantic ski weekend" staying at the Powderhorn Chateau in the Subaru promotion on Saturday. Subaru drivers who bought day passes got a 30% discount on one pass and also went into the draw for the weekend. The eruption gas cloud that was observed yesterday morning (Monday) did not cause any harm, with no reports of ash-fall at the time of going to print. Bounce back Ruapehu marketing manager Bruce Rollinson confirmed that the Bounce Back Ruapehu promotion campaign would start in early Turn to Page 3

Bounce back skiing

FROM PAGE 1 September, to promote the area as a school holiday destination. The campaign would be divided into two parts — one targeting the September school holidays and one, starting in the first week of December targeting the Christmas holidays. He said the reason for this was that in the short term people had to have spare time available to come to the area. However, there would also be long-term benefits as people would react to the campaign even as late as next year and beyond. "The campaign has both short and long-term implications." Television advertising would start the campaign, with a brochure being inserted into the major North Islanddaily newspapers and selected regional daily papers as the TV advertisements ended. A key part of the campaign would be the handling of the responses to the one million inserts (divided between September and December), and how that was to be handled was currently being worked on. "We' re looking at how to manage the i esponse to the campaign to provide the best value for money." "There will be some surprises in the campaign to encourage operator involvement," he added. Asked about promoting skiing now, Mr Rollinson said one of the scenarios being considered by the creative people was "business as usual".