I’ve already posted at length about the outlook for the 2008/09 ski season.  Obviously, its gonna be a rough year for the leisure travel industry.  In addition to the troubles I mentioned at Moonlight Basin and Vail, it looks like Intrawest has fallen on tough times as well.  According to this CTV.ca article Intrawest (who owns a number of ski resorts including Whistler, Winter Park and Steamboat) has warned employees that they will be taking a number of cost-cutting measures and they are expecting an unusually tough season.  According to the Financial Times, Fortress (the owner of Intrawest) is trying to raise additional funding by Oct. 23 just to keep Intrawest afloat.

In another article in the USA Today, a Vail city-councilman speculates that this year could be the ‘worst ever’ for the town’s economy.  While that comment might be overly dramatic, I think businesses that rely on the travel industry need to be prepared for some changes.

One thing I think all adventure travel companies need to be ready for is a round of steep discounting.  There is definitely going to be a ton of excess supply, and consumers know that.  We’ve already seen a round of steep discounting from the major hotel companies, and every other leisure travel company is likely going to follow suit.

A few suggestions for discounting your adventure travel inventory:

• Don’t lower prices across the board.  Make it clear that you’re offering special/promotional offers on select products.
• Offer some of your best prices at the last minute.  Unemployed/underemployed folks have a more flexible schedule and are more cost-sensitive.  This leaves you about 10% of the population who has some time to shop for a deal!
• Try and maintain some differentiation from your competitors.  It’s never fun to be in a commodity business, but being an adventure-travel-commodity right now could be disastrous.
• Leverage your newsletter and mailing list to let past customers know about discounts.  You may also consider purchasing adwords advertisements to advertise your last-minute packages.
• Now is a time to be cutting spending across the board, but you may want to consider upping your advertising budget.  Remember, we’re dealing with a period of excess supply and you want to be sure your product is moving.

Feel free to leave any more suggestions in the comments below.