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PRESENTATION OF SKI RESORTS IN THE SOCHI REGION – A COMPARISON OF DATA FROM GERMAN WEB PORTALS by Alena Titova and Michael Stoffl Alena Titova, student of Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences, Heilbronn, Germany International Business – Intercultural Studies, enrollment code: 194110 E-mail: [email protected] Michael Stoffl, student of Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences, Heilbronn, Germany International Business – Intercultural Studies, enrollment code: 195680 E-mail: [email protected] Tutor: Prof. Dr. Jerzy Jaworski Annotation : В данной работе рассматриваются горнолыжные курорты города Сочи (Россия, Красная Поляна) и информация о них, собранная немецкими веб-порталами для зимних видов спорта в качестве рекламы. Особое внимание уделяется критериям для проведения сравнительного анализа контента сайтов с помощью скоринговой модели. Итогом исследования является составление

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Page 1: mitarbeiter.hs-heilbronn.demitarbeiter.hs-heilbronn.de/.../ProseminarWS201920/WORD_Beis… · Web viewThis fact leads to the query, where the money was invested. A big amount streamed

PRESENTATION OF SKI RESORTS IN THE SOCHI REGION –

A COMPARISON OF DATA FROM GERMAN WEB PORTALS

by Alena Titova and Michael Stoffl

Alena Titova, student of Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences, Heilbronn, GermanyInternational Business – Intercultural Studies, enrollment code: 194110E-mail: [email protected]

Michael Stoffl, student of Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences, Heilbronn, GermanyInternational Business – Intercultural Studies, enrollment code: 195680 E-mail: [email protected]

Tutor: Prof. Dr. Jerzy Jaworski

Annotation : В данной работе рассматриваются горнолыжные курорты города Сочи

(Россия, Красная Поляна) и информация о них, собранная немецкими веб-порталами

для зимних видов спорта в качестве рекламы. Особое внимание уделяется критериям

для проведения сравнительного анализа контента сайтов с помощью скоринговой

модели. Итогом исследования является составление рэнкинга горнолыжных курортов

Сочи и выявление портала с наиболее успешным маркетингом.

Key words : Сочи, Красная Поляна, горнолыжные курорты, немецкие спортивные

сайты, зимний туризм, скоринговая модель, туристический маркетинг

Heilbronn, March 2017

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

Introduction

The investment for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi reached more than 50 billion

US-$. This is more than the accumulated cost of all winter games before.1 This fact leads to

the query, where the money was invested. A big amount streamed directly into the develop-

ment of the ski resorts in Krasnaya Polyana (urban-type settlement near Sochi). Today they

are state-of-the-art with ultramodern lift facilities. There are very fashionable skiing areas,

designed for thousands of tourists, but the visitors stay away. This raises the question: Why

are there so few tourists and how are the ski resorts in the Sochi region presented on German

websites? Are they promoted in an informative and appropriate way so that German and other

European tourists want to travel there?

The aim of this research is to analyze ski resorts in Sochi and to identify the web portal with

the highest information content and the ski resort with the most professional illustration. The

object of this paper is the ski resorts in Krasnaya Polyana: Rosa Khutor, Alpika Service,

Gazprom Mountain Resort (Laura) and Gornaya Karusel. The subject is the most professional

presentation of a ski resort on a German web portal. The investigated German websites are

skiinfo.de, outdooractive.com, snowplaza.de and skiresort.de.

In the first part of this paper the ski resorts and the selected websites are described. The web-

sites provided the latest information for this research.

Then, criteria, which are important for the presentation of skiing areas, were set and a scoring

model for comparing different German websites was developed. A weighting was determined

and points for the different criteria were allocated for comparison of the information on the

ski resorts. By using the scoring model clear and expressive results as well as a ranking of the

ski resorts were achieved at the end of the research. Anyhow, it needs to be stressed that no

perfect objectivity is given when the points were allocated. The following methods were ap-

plied in this research: study and analysis of online resources, comparison by means of a scor-

ing model and description of information from German winter sport websites.

1 See: https://www.welt.de/sport/olympia/article124884456/Teurer-als-alle-bisherigen-Winterspiele-zusam-men.html, retrieved 27 March 2017

1

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

Finally, the results were presented and the conclusions were defined. Recommendations for

people, who are interested in spending their vacation time in Krasnaya Polyana, were estab-

lished.

Concluding, it has to be stated, that the analyzed topic is of high relevance and actuality. Rus-

sia invested a gigantic sum of money into the expansion and new construction of skiing places

in Sochi. However, after this big investment and advertisement of the Olympic Games in

2014 the skiers and snowboarders fail to appear. What could be the opportunities to improve

the prospects of the investors and to attract German and other European customers?

In the following the above mentioned questions will be investigated in a scientific approach.

Presentation of ski resorts in Sochi

Krasnaya Polyana

Krasnaya Polyana is a settlement near Sochi, located in the Western Caucasus with a popu-

lation of about 4,600 inhabitants. It became internationally well-known because of the Winter

Olympics 2014. There are four alpine ski resorts: Rosa Khutor, Alpika Service, Gazprom

Mountain Resort (Laura) and Gornaya Karusel, which hosted not only the Winter Olympics,

but also World Cup alpine events in February 2012.

Figure 1: Location map of ski resorts in Sochi2

The skiing area in Krasnaya Polyana has 142.3 km of slopes in total. The ski resorts reach up

to 2,320 m and 58 modern lifts transport the guests.3

2 http://skiings.ru/sochi.html, retrieved 26 March 20173 See: http://www.skiresort.de/skigebiete/krasnaja-poljana-sotschi/, retrieved 23 March 2017

2

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

Rosa Khutor

Rosa Khutor is the largest of the four ski resorts close to Krasnaya Polyana, which is situated

in an elevation between 940 and 2,320 m. The 77 km of slopes offer terrain for skiers and

snowboarders for all kinds of skill levels, from beginners to professionals. The guests are

transported in 23 lifts.

After the allocation of the Olympic Winter Games to Sochi, a lot of money was invested into

the expansion of winter sport areas, and many new ski resorts were developed within just a

couple of years. Krasnaya Polyana profited from the big investments in this region. Today a

mixture of big multi-level buildings of American and Western European hotel chains, expen-

sive promenades as well as a few houses of former times can be seen. The Olympic gondola

carries passengers up to the Olympic Village, which is at altitude of 1,100 m. From there two

additional gondolas lead up to the 2,320 m high Rosa Peak with its high alpine area. Modern

artificial snow generating plants increase the duration of the skiing season up to 140 days per

year depending on the altitude.4

Figure 2: Ski map of Rosa Khutor5

4 See: http://www.skiresort.de/skigebiet/rosa-khutor/, retrieved 23 March 20175 https://en.rosaski.com/shared/files/201412/10_2438.jpg, retrieved 26 March 2017

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

Alpika Service

Alpika Service is another ski resort located near Krasnaya Polyana, which was opened in

1993. There are about 25 km of slopes and 9 lifts available. The altitude of this area is be-

tween 535 and 2,228 m. At the top guests can enjoy a wonderful 360-degree alpine outlook in

the Caucasus. If the weather is good enough, skiers can relish a visibility up to 100 km.

One of the highlights of the skiing area is a 9 km ski slope with a height difference of about

1,700 m. The variety of different types of routes, for example, along the ridge or in the forest

zone, enriches the stay in Krasnaya Polyana. Snow-cats work up the tracks of the first three

lifts for children and beginners, but there are fast tracks for professional skiers and snow-

boarders, too. The ski area has 2 gondola lifts, 5 combined installations (gondola and chair), 1

chairlift and 1 button lift. From 1993 till 1997 planning and equipment from domestic devel-

opers and lift plant manufacturers were used. In 2001 the world leading Austrian manufac-

turer Doppelmayr built a lift, which opened new possibilities to skiers: now areas could be

reached by lift instead of only by helicopter as previously. Furthermore, all ropeways were

equipped with non-contact access control systems, which operate with magnetic cards.6

Gazprom Mountain Resort (Laura)

Gazprom Mountain Resort (Laura) is a further ski location close to Krasnaya Polyana,

which offers 20.3 km of routes to its guests. 15 lifts carry the skiers and snowboarders from

949 m up to 1,800 m. Gazprom Mountain Resort is similarly protected as an airport. People

must go through security checks before accessing the gondola in the valley. In addition, there

are cameras and fences at the masts of the lifts in order to be protected from terrorist attacks.

It is said, that this skiing place is Vladimir Putin’s favorite, which is probably the reason for

the high level of security checks. The partly government-owned company Gazprom invested

in this place. It is presumed, that Vladimir Putin himself ensured this investment.

The 2006 opened ski resort was the place of the cross-country skiing and biathlon competi-

tions for the Olympic Winter Games in 2014. There is also a stadium for biathlon on an alti -

tude of about 1,500 m. As the Gazprom Mountain Resort (Laura) is probably the most exclu-

sive skiing area in Russia, only wealthy people can afford to spend their holidays there.7

6 See: http://www.skiresort.de/skigebiet/alpika-service/, retrieved 23 March 20177 See: http://www.skiresort.de/skigebiet/gazprom-mountain-resort-laura-esto-sadok-sotschi/, retrieved 23 March 2017

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

Gornaya Karusel

Gornaya Karusel is the fourth ski resort located in Krasnaya Polyana. 20 km of slopes and

11 lifts are available for skiers and snowboarders. Situated between an elevation of 960 m and

2,300 m it is considered to be a place with guaranteed snow. From the valley, which means

from the hotel-village Esto-Sadok (540 m), three ropeways carry the guests to the three

switching tiers at altitudes of 960 m, 1,460 m and 2,200 m. Since 2008 the ski resort was built

out, although it wasn’t used as a venue of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

It is located relatively close to the Olympic venue Gazprom Mountain Resort (with Laura, the

cross-country skiing and biathlon center), but also close to Rosa Khutor, the centre for snow-

board and freestyle competitions. In the summer the hillsides were used for mountain bike

competitions.8

Presentation of selected ski websites

Skiinfo.de

Skiinfo is a European website and travel service. It is part of the OnTheSnow network. On-

TheSnow is the world’s most visited website for winter sport.

Figure 3: Screenshot “Skiinfo.de” 9

In order to provide exact and up-to-date information about the ski resorts, Skiinfo runs vari-

ous subsidiaries all over Europe: in Italy, France, Germany and Slovakia. The website also

includes a special magazine about winter sports, equipment tests and special events.10

8 See: http://www.skiresort.de/skigebiet/gornaya-karusel/, retrieved 23 March 20179 http://www.skiinfo.de/russland/rosa-khutor/skigebiet.html, retrieved 29 March 201710 See: http://www.skiinfo.de, retrieved 25 March 2017

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

Outdooractive.com

Outdooractive is the portal for outdoor athletes: hiking, cycling, mountain biking or skiing.

The vision of the founder of Outdooractive Hartmut Wimmer is to provide the perfect online

platform for outdoor fans.

Figure 4: Screenshot “Outdooractive.com” 11

The focus here is set on excellent content, modern technologies and usability to create the

most convenient spot for exchanging information and archiving memories. In order to support

this, the website contains information about tours, travel destinations, accommodation, litera-

ture and weather. The information on this portal is also available as mobile application or

print edition.12

Snowplaza.de

Snowplaza is one of Europe’s major skiing and snowboarding portals.

Figure 5: Screenshot "Snowplaza.de"13

11 https://www.outdooractive.com/de/skigebiet/rosa-khutor/9408674/, retrieved 26 March 201712 See: https://www.outdooractive.com, retrieved 25 March 201713 https://www.snowplaza.de/weblog/5469-skigebiete-und-skiurlaub-in-sotschi-am-schwarzen-meer/, retrieved 29 March 2017

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

Its geographical focus is set on the Alps, Central and Eastern Europe and the United States.

The portal belongs to Spalder Media Group, a leading travel publisher for mountain holidays

based in Belgium. Snowplaza includes extensive stats on ski resorts, traveler’s reviews and

accommodation for ski holidays. Another important content is detailed weather and snow

forecasts together with snow reports and live webcams. The main goal of Snowplaza is to

help winter sportsmen preparing their holiday by providing all the necessary information. In

addition to the online content of Snowplaza the information is available as magazine app as

well as a print edition.14

Skiresort.de

Skiresort is one of the largest test portals of ski resorts globally. It was founded by Oliver

Kern in June 1998 in Germany. His goal was to create catalogue of all the ski resorts in the

world, testing them and publishing test reports. In November 2000 the company expanded

their offer and included an international snow databank and has been distributing this infor-

mation to various partners until today. Since 2010 the portal became available in English lan-

guage. Nowadays it can be viewed in five languages.

Figure 6: Screenshot “Skiresort.de” 15

Today Skiresort praises itself for being the only portal having information about all 5,200 ski

resorts worldwide. This data is completed by individual snow and weather reports, news

about ski lifts and hotel recommendations. Besides the web-based portal the skiers and snow-

boarders can use the Skiresort.de-app available for iPhone.16

14 See: https://www.snowplaza.de, retrieved 25 March 201715 http://www.skiresort.de/skigebiet/rosa-khutor/, retrieved 26 March 201716 See: http://www.skiresort.de, retrieved 26 March 2017

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

Determination of comparison criteria for selected ski resorts

To evaluate the best presentation of ski resort in Sochi comparison criteria were determined

using above-mentioned websites. All of them focus on the demands and requirements of ski

athletes. Although the examined websites are structured typically, information content among

them varies. Some of the websites show information about accommodation and offers for

children. Others have information about arrival and restaurant recommendations. Below the

most typical criteria are presented together with explanation:

Availability on website: This aspect describes the availability of the ski resort on a website.

Some ski resorts can be found on all selected websites, others are not fully listed on a particu-

lar website.

Number of hotels: All ski athletes require accommodation after arrival at the ski resort. An

indicator for the good presentation of ski resorts is the number of available hotels nearby rec-

ommended by the website. Only few of the investigated websites provide hotel recommenda-

tions or booking facilities. Some of them redirect to partner websites for booking and hotel

details.

Height of ski resort: For all winter tourists the likeliness of snow has the highest priority for

skiing. Furthermore, wonderful views from the mountain peaks can be enjoyed. Both aspects

are closely related to the height of the ski resort. The higher the resort is located, the higher

the likeliness of snow and the better the views from the peak of the mountain. This informa-

tion is not available on all websites for all ski resorts.

Weather and snow reports: This service is highly important not only for winter athletes, but

also for average tourists. A special service is “powder alarm”, which will notify the prospect

about improving or deteriorating snow conditions. This information is not available on all

websites for all ski resorts.

Length of ski course: One major aspect for choosing the ski resort is the length of ski courses.

In this case it is significant, which degree of information is provided regarding overall length

or blue, red and black courses’ individual length. By means of this information the winter

athletes can choose the appropriate ski resort based on their skills and preferences. The major-

8

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

ity of websites give only basic information about overall length. Only one website differenti-

ates between blue, red and black courses.

Number of ski lifts: Times, when it was unavoidable to climb the mountain by foot or heli-

copter, are long gone. Modern winter sport tourists pay much attention to comfort in climbing

up the hill. Therefore, information on the number and kind of lifts can be a decision criterion

for choosing or not choosing a ski resort. In this paper, the information on availability and

kind of ski lifts is evaluated. Nearly all portals show detailed information, but deviating num-

bers of button, chair and gondola lifts.

Price of ski pass: Ski pass prices strongly influence the overall costs of winter vacation. It is

of even higher importance to families and group tourists. That is why the accessibility of this

information is taken into consideration.

Availability of live webcams: Modern technologies allow communication over huge distances.

For winter athletes they can provide first-hand impressions taken directly from the resort into

their house. It is an efficient means for promoting the attractiveness of a ski resort. This ser-

vice is not available for all analyzed winter ski resorts on German web-portals.

Availability of user reports: Comments and experience reports of other users can help the

decision for a winter ski resort. Unfortunately, not all portals have user reports unlocked and

available comments from European users in the database related to Sochi region are quite

limited.

Scoring model for comparison of selected ski resorts

Resources for collecting the data

In order to compare the four ski resorts, different ski portals were researched and compared.

At the beginning the focus was set on large booking portals like tripadvisor.de or expedia.de.

Due to non-availability of specific information related to the analyzed ski resorts in Sochi

they could not be taken into consideration. It turned out that specialized ski portals like Skiin-

fo.de, Outdooractive.com, Snowplaza.de and Skiresort.de provide more usable data for the

analysis.

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

Weighting

A scoring model17 helps to investigate various alternatives by differentiating selected aspects

of the alternatives and compare them on a weighted basis.

The table below shows the chosen weightings in percentage, the sum of the individual weight-

ings is 100 %:

Availability on website: The overall availability is the most generic requirement in comparing

the ski resorts. Does a web portal not list a ski resort, it indicates a reduced quality of presen-

tation. The weighting is 20%, which is the highest value within this comparison.

ASPECT WEIGHTING QUESTION

Availability on website 20% Is the ski resort listed on the website?

No. of hotels 10% How many hotels are available on the website or

related website (e.g. booking.com, expedia.de)?

Height of ski resort 5% Information about height above sea level available

on the website?

Weather and snow 20% Information about weather and snow level available

on the website?

Course [km] (blue/

red/black)

20% Information about length of overall ski courses

available on the website?

Ski lifts (button/chair/

gondola)

10% Information about number and kind of lifts available

on the website?

Ski pass / day 5% Information about price of ski pass for adults per

day available on the website?

Live webcams 5% Live webcams available on the website?

User reports 5% User evaluation available on the website?

SUM 100%

Figure 7: Explanation of criteria in scoring model

17 See: http://www.wirtschaftslexikon24.com/d/scoring-modell/scoring-modell.htm, retrieved 28 March 2017

10

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

Number of hotels: The number of hotels available is an indicator for a good presentation on

the website. In the scoring model, this aspect is weighted with 10%.

Height of ski resort: Once information about the height is missing, it gives a poor presentation

of the ski resort on the website. It is weighed with 5%.

Weather and snow reports: This data gives a very quick idea about the skiing circumstances

at the resort. It is must-have information and therefore it is weighted with 20%.

Length of ski course: The length of the ski courses is an important aspect for selecting an ap-

propriate ski resort. It is weighted with 20%.

Number of ski lifts: These are high important criteria, therefore it is weighted with 10%.

Price of ski pass: The price of the ski pass is an intermediate important point. It is weighted

with 5%.

Availability of live webcams: The availability of live webcams is an intermediate important

point. It is weighted with 5%.

Availability of user reports: The availability of user reports is an intermediate important point.

It is evaluated with 5%.

Grading system in Germany and Russia in comparison

For assessment of the data German ascending school mark system was used. By comparison

to the Russian declining system the following approximate equivalents can be matched:

German 1.0 (very good) matches Russian 5.0

German 2.0 (good) matches Russian 4.0

German 3.0 (satisf.) and 4.0 (adequate) Russian 3.0

German 5.0 (inadequate) matches Russian 2.0

German 6.0 (unsatisfactory) matches Russian 1.018

18See:https://www.uni-potsdam.de/fileadmin01/projects/international/docs/Notenumrechnung_L%C3%A4nder/Notenumrechnung_Russland_IO.pdf, retrieved 28 March 2017

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

Assessment of the data

The different criteria are graded as “Yes”, “Partly”, “Not available (N/A)” or actual numbers

are indicated.

“Yes” means: the aspect is fully available and specified on the website.

“Partly” means: the aspect is mentioned but not fully specified on the website.

“N/A” means: the aspect is not described or mentioned on the website.

Actual numbers: describe the values for number of hotels, course length in km and

number of ski lifts.

Some of the researched aspects were divided into subcategories like blue, red and black cour-

ses or number of button-, chair- and gondola-ski lifts.

The results can be seen in the figure 11 “Data for scoring model” in attachment.

ASPECT WEIGHTING ASSESSMENT

Availability on website 20% Yes = 1.0 / Partly = 4.0 / N/A = 6.0

No. of hotels 10% ≥200 = 1.0 / ≥150 = 2.0 / ≥80 = 3.0 / ≥50 = 4.0 /

≥30 = 5.0 / N/A = 6.0

Height of ski resort 5% Yes = 1.0 / N/A = 6.0

Weather and snow 20% Yes = 1.0 / N/A = 6.0

Course [km] (blue/

red/black)

20% Dedicated information = 1.0 / General courses = 3.0

/ N/A = 6.0

Ski lifts (button/chair/

gondola)

10% Dedicated information = 1.0 / General courses = 3.0

/ N/A = 6.0

Ski pass / day 5% Yes = 1.0 / N/A = 6.0

Live webcams 5% Yes = 1.0 / N/A = 6.0

User reports 5% Yes = 1.0 / N/A = 6.0

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

Figure 8: Assessment of criteria in scoring model

Determining the average results for the ski resorts

The intermediate scoring value of each ski resort related to the website is built by using the

individual school mark for each aspect, multiplying it with the weighting and summing up the

values. The final results are grades for each ski resort on all web portals, which were deter-

mined out of the intermediate scoring values by using even weighting. These average results

are used for the final ranking of the presentations of ski resorts.

Identification of the best presented ski resort

Rosa Khutor

Rosa Khutor was graded with the highest final result of 2.40. In addition to that, this resort

achieved the highest rating on all researched web portals.

Gazprom Mountain Resort (Laura) / Gornaya Karusel

Gazprom Mountain Resort (Laura) and Gornaya Karusel were graded both with 3.38 due to

their overall identical availability of information. Concluding the ski resorts share second

place within the ranking. During comparison of the web portals separately, both ski resorts

fall back to last place once focusing on Snowplaza.de portal only.

Alpika Service

Alpika Service was graded with 3.44 and took the fourth place in the ranking. Nevertheless,

Alpika Service won second place at Snowplaza portal within the individual ranking.

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

Rosa Khutor Gazprom Mountain Gornaya Karusel Alpika Service0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Average

Figure 9: Ranking of ski resorts in average

Identification of the best web portal

14

1

2

3

4

5

6

2,28

3,443,38 3,38

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

Based on the content and variety of information Skiresort.de was evaluated as the best Ger-

man ski web portal for the ski resorts in Sochi region in this research. All investigated ski

resorts are listed with a lot of necessary information and detailed descriptions together with

user reports. This leads to average weighted grades constantly better than 2.00.

Outdooractive.com also provides information about all ski resorts in Sochi. Nevertheless, the

variety of content was significantly reduced in comparison to Skiresort.de. This results in av-

erage weighted grades approximately 2.50.

Snowplaza.de and Skiinfo.de could not provide most of the searched information.

Skiresort.de Outdooractive.com Snowplaza.de Skiinfo.de0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Rosa KhutorGazprom + GornayaAlpika Service

Figure 10: Ranking of German ski web portals

Conclusion

After finishing this research the main aspects will be summarized and recommendations will

be given. First of all, it is not easy to find informative European websites containing relevant

information about ski resorts in the Sochi region. It gets even harder by limiting the websites

to German content only. Comparing the data available on Western ski resorts with the infor-

mation listed for Krasnaya Polyana, there is a significant potential for improvement of the

presentation of Russian ski resorts on German websites.

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1

2

3

4

5

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

After the four relevant websites had been identified, different criteria for the assessment were

determined and a scoring model was evolved. Through this method it was possible to find out,

which of the chosen websites fulfills the criteria the most and is therefore the website with the

highest information content. A clear winner was found: skiresort.de. The other websites out-

dooractive.com, snowplaza.de share second place, and skiinfo.de was ranked as the fourth in

this order.

Furthermore, the scoring model allowed to detect the ski resort with the most professional

illustration on the selected internet portals. Rosa Khutor, the biggest ski resort with a rating of

2.28, was presented in the most informative way. The other three skiing areas had been beaten

by far. Gazprom Mountain Resort (Laura) and Gornaya Karusel were illustrated in an almost

identical way and shared the second place. Alpika Service performed the worst with a short

distance to the both second place ski resorts.

The illustration of Rosa Khutor was created with the most extensive marketing due to its size

and importance during the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. The content on website skiresort.de

about this ski resort is the most useful for helping potential tourists in planning their winter

vacation.

Nevertheless, the operators of the ski resorts in Sochi shouldn’t expect too many German and

European guests in the future. There is a number of reasons against visiting these touristic

places. It needs to be considered, that development and infrastructure of European ski resorts

do not lag behind the ski resorts in the Sochi region. There are many Austrian, French and

Swiss ski resorts, which are state-of-the-art. European skiers and snowboarders often prefer

visiting ski resorts with short distances to their homes for weekend trips.

Another reason for the nonappearance of European tourists is the complex and time-consum-

ing visa application process in Russia, the overall travel costs to Sochi and current Russian-

European relations.

In order to increase the number of German and European guests the operators of the ski re-

sorts in Sochi need to cooperate closely with European tourism marketing agencies for creat-

ing consumer awareness and designing a satisfactory image of the Sochi region as a brand.

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

List of references

Outdooractive.com - Alpika Service. (2017). Retrieved 03 26, 2017, from https://www.out-

dooractive.com/de/skigebiet/alpika-service/9408671/

Outdooractive.com - Gazprom Mountain. (2017). Retrieved 03 26, 2017, from https://

www.outdooractive.com/de/skigebiet/gazprom-mountain-resort/9408658/

Outdooractive.com - Gornaya Karusel. (2017). Retrieved 03 26, 2017, from https://www.out-

dooractive.com/de/skigebiet/gornaya-karusel/9408676/#dmdtab=oax-tab2

Outdooractive.com - Rosa Khutor. (2017). Retrieved 03 26, 2017, from https://www.out-

dooractive.com/de/skigebiet/gornaya-karusel/9408676/#dmdtab=oax-tab2

Rosaki.com. (n.d.). Retrieved 03 26, 2017, from https://en.rosaski.com/shared/files/

201412/10_2438.jpg

Skiinfo.de - Krasnaya Polyana. (2017). Retrieved 03 26, 2017, from http://www.skiinfo.de/

russland/krasnaya-polyana/skigebiet.html

Skiinfo.de - Rosa Khutor. (2017). Retrieved 03 26, 2017, from http://www.skiinfo.de/russ-

land/rosa-khutor/skigebiet.html

Skiing.ru. (2017). Retrieved 03 26, 2017, from http://skiings.ru/sochi.html

Skiresort.de - Alpika Service. (n.d.). Retrieved 03 25, 2017, from http://www.skiresort.de/

skigebiet/alpika-service/

Skiresort.de - Gazprom Mountain. (n.d.). Retrieved 03 25, 2017, from http://www.skire-

sort.de/skigebiet/gazprom-mountain-resort-laura-esto-sadok-sotschi/

Skiresort.de - Gornaya Karusel. (n.d.). Retrieved 03 25, 2017, from http://www.skiresort.de/

skigebiet/gornaya-karusel/

Skiresort.de - Krasnaya Polyana. (kein Datum). Abgerufen am 23. 03 2017 von

http://www.skiresort.de/skigebiete/krasnaja-poljana-sotschi/

Skiresort.de - Rosa Khutor. (n.d.). Retrieved 03 25, 2017, from http://www.skiresort.de/skige-

biet/rosa-khutor/

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

Snowplaza.de. (2016). Retrieved 03 25, 2017, from https://www.snowplaza.de/weblog/5469-

skigebiete-und-skiurlaub-in-sotschi-am-schwarzen-meer/

UniPotsdam.de. (n.d.). Retrieved 03 28, 2017, from https://www.uni potsdam.de/

fileadmin01/projects/international/docs/Notenumrechnung_L%C3%A4nder/Notenumrech-

nung_Russland_IO.pdf

Welt.de. (2014, 02 16). Retrieved 03 26, 2017, from https://www.welt.de/sport/olympia/arti-

cle124884456/Teurer-als-alle-bisherigen-Winterspiele-zusammen.html

Wirtschaftslexiko24.com. (n.d.). Retrieved 03 28, 2017, from

http://www.wirtschaftslexikon24.com/d/scoring-modell/scoring-modell.htm

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

Attachment

Web portals Ski resortsRosa Khutor

Alpika Service

Gazprom Mountain

Gornaya Karusel

Skiinfo.de 100%Availability on website 20% Yes Partly Partly PartlyNo. of hotels 10% 3 N/A N/A N/AHeight of ski resort 5% Yes N/A N/A N/AWeather and snow 20% Yes N/A N/A N/ACourse [km] (blue/red/black) 20% 77 N/A N/A N/ASki lifts (button/chair/gondola) 10% 2/11/10 N/A N/A N/ASki pass / day 5% N/A N/A N/A N/ALive webcams 5% Yes N/A N/A N/AUser reports 5% N/A N/A N/A N/AOutdooractive.com 100%Availability on website 20% Yes Yes Yes YesNo. of hotels 10% N/A N/A N/A N/AHeight of ski resort 5% Yes N/A Yes YesWeather and snow 20% Yes Yes Yes YesCourse [km] (blue/red/black) 20% 33 25 15 20Ski lifts (button/chair/gondola) 10% 0/1/4 0/1/1 3/5/4 0/1/3Ski pass / day 5% Yes Yes Yes YesLive webcams 5% N/A N/A N/A N/AUser reports 5% N/A N/A N/A N/ASnowplaza.de 100%Availability on website 20% Yes Yes Yes YesNo. of hotels 10% 149 69 69 69Height of ski resort 5% Yes Yes N/A N/AWeather and snow 20% N/A N/A N/A N/ACourse [km] (blue/red/black) 20% 70 25 15 20Ski lifts (button/chair/gondola) 10% 2/11/10 N/A N/A N/ASki pass / day 5% Yes Yes Yes YesLive webcams 5% N/A N/A N/A N/AUser reports 5% N/A N/A N/A N/ASkiresort.de 100%Availability on website 20% Yes Yes Yes YesNo. of hotels 10% 149 69 69 69Height of ski resort 5% Yes Yes Yes YesWeather and snow 20% Yes Yes Yes YesCourse [km] (blue/red/black) 20% 30/26/21 10/10/5 7/11/2 4/15/1Ski lifts (button/chair/gondola) 10% 2/11/10 1/1/7 3/6/6 2/6/3Ski pass / day 5% Yes N/A Yes YesLive webcams 5% Yes N/A N/A N/AUser reports 5% Yes Yes Yes Yes

Figure 11: Data for scoring model

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

Web portals Ski resortsRosa Khutor

Alpika Service

Gazprom Mountain

Gornaya Karusel

AVERAGE RESULTS 2.28 3.44 3.38 3.38Skiinfo.de 100% 2.40 5.60 5.60 5.60Availability on website 20% 1.0 4.0 4.0 4.0No. of hotels 10% 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0Height of ski resort 5% 1.0 6.0 6.0 6.0Weather and snow 20% 1.0 6.0 6.0 6.0Course [km] (blue/red/black) 20% 3.0 6.0 6.0 6.0Ski lifts (button/chair/gondola) 10% 1.0 6.0 6.0 6.0Ski pass / day 5% 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0Live webcams 5% 1.0 6.0 6.0 6.0User reports 5% 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0Outdooractive.com 100% 2.40 2.65 2.40 2.40Availability on website 20% 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0No. of hotels 10% 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0Height of ski resort 5% 1.0 6.0 1.0 1.0Weather and snow 20% 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0Course [km] (blue/red/black) 20% 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0Ski lifts (button/chair/gondola) 10% 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0Ski pass / day 5% 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0Live webcams 5% 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0User reports 5% 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0Snowplaza.de 100% 3.10 3.70 3.95 3.95Availability on website 20% 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0No. of hotels 10% 3.0 4.0 4.0 4.0Height of ski resort 5% 1.0 1.0 6.0 6.0Weather and snow 20% 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0Course [km] (blue/red/black) 20% 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0Ski lifts (button/chair/gondola) 10% 1.0 6.0 6.0 6.0Ski pass / day 5% 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0Live webcams 5% 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0User reports 5% 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0Skiresort.de 100% 1.20 1.80 1.55 1.55Availability on website 20% 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0No. of hotels 10% 3.0 4.0 4.0 4.0Height of ski resort 5% 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0Weather and snow 20% 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0Course [km] (blue/red/black) 20% 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0Ski lifts (button/chair/gondola) 10% 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0Ski pass / day 5% 1.0 6.0 1.0 1.0

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Presentation of ski resorts in the Sochi region – A Comparison of data from German web portals

Live webcams 5% 1.0 6.0 6.0 6.0User reports 5% 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0

Figure 12: Average results of scoring model

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