Where to Ski And Snowboard - Snowboarding on the wane says study

Snowboarding on the wane says study

11th March 2015, by Abi Butcher

Snowboarding is on the decline, according to a new survey from the US

Snowboarding is on the decline, according to a new survey from the US — but Burton is not deterred.

Aging athletes, new skis and a lack of snow are all being blamed for a drop of 28 per cent drop in the numbers of people snowboarding between 2003 and 2013 in America, according to the National Sporting Goods Association. Skiing also declined over that period, but by only 10 per cent.

Snowboard sales dropped 25 per cent since their peak in 2008-2009, while ski sales rose 1.5 per cent during that time, according SnowSports Industries of America data.

Jeff Boliba of Burton Snowboards, which unveiled its first boards in 1977, said ‘‘Snowboarding has definitely gone through a maturation phase. We’ve hit our phases where it’s been the fastest growing sport in the world. We’ve reached phases where it started to plateau a little bit, and then you reach phases where the economy crashed and snowboarders definitely were impacted.’’

But founder Jake Burton last week announced that his company has opened five dozen stores in China. The country has around 50,000 riders but an overall population of 1.35 billion.

“It’s a huge growth opportunity,” Burton said when he was in Vail to host his US Open snowboarding contest.

“China’s got the mountains and, obviously, the economy, and the people there love the freestyle thing. We’ve taken snowboards to a lot of places, but we’ve never taken them to a market where it’s as small as it is there right now.”