Business planning for ski resorts

You are a lift company that operates for many years the slopes in your area. You have managed to go throughout the years, good and less good, perhaps without ever making a business plan until today. Then, why starting such an exercise?

Often, investments lifts renewals do not bring in themselves an improvement in profitability. They generally do not justify a price in-crease and no longer naturally generate an increase in the number of skier visits. On the contrary, due to the new investment, profitability may in principle rather tend to deteriorate if nothing is done. It is therefore essential, in order to avoid such degradation, that the lifts company seeks in parallel for improved profitability measures, by leveraging the best of the advantages and opportunities created by the new investment (e.g. removal of existing parallel facilities, reduction of service personnel, energy...) or by implementing revenues improvement measures (marketing measures, yield management) or costs reductions. A new investment is therefore an opportunity not only to analyse the project itself, but also to dare to question in a broader way the management of the company as a whole.

The preparation of a business plan is the best tool to ensure a full, objective and positive future-oriented survey. It will allow not only to identify current problems or difficulties, but also to make an innovative reflexion, designed to produce concrete results. Progress to-wards these will then be followed by referring to the business plan.

The business plan in a nutshell:

• Where are we?
• Where do we want to go?
• How is it proposed to get there?
• Is it worth it?
• What are the risks and opportunities

Enjoy a methodology specially developed for ski resorts :