Entertainment as a restorative purpose
Fun is as much a need as rest and relaxation. The meaning that can be given to fun is that of an activity that allows us to temporarily overcome our everyday problems.
Going on a ski trip allows for fun through a rest from our daily obligations, the discharge of repressed physical and psychic energies, and the stimulation of sensations produced by the displacements in the environment. To achieve this, we need to avoid the following aspects during a ski holiday:
- Excessive scheduling of activities.
- Take into account the rest provided by getting enough sleep.
- Leave aside established routines to allow for improvising new activities.
- Prevent family or group conflicts.
The satisfaction of needs
Our desires vacationing at a ski resort are based on the Pyramid of Needs formulated by psychologist Abraham Maslow. The scale of needs are intrinsic factors that drive us to go on vacation and are indicators of our behavior. A ski resort fulfills the needs of the skier who vacations there since it meets the following:
- Physiological needs through the mountain lodging and restaurants that provide shelter, food, and restrooms.
- The need for security is covered by avalanche prevention, ski patrol service, and ski schools that not only provide instruction but also accompaniment to get to know the different slopes under the safety of an instructor.
- The need for social contact is feasible in the lodging place, restaurants, group lessons, or in social events on snow.
- The need for self-esteem is complemented by the need to be recognized and to perform an activity that give us a sense of self-worth and self-development in terms of developing our own abilities and striving to do our best in doing so.
These psycho-affective aspects of human needs that a ski resort can cover could be used in the promotional campaigns of the services it provides and that complement the skier-customer experience.
In addition to those proposed by Maslow, the following personality needs are highlighted according to our personal preferences (according to Edwards and Murray):
- Achievement: need to carry out what we set out to do, to succeed in our skiing and to overcome the facing obstacles.
- Deference: need to follow others, to have a guide.
- Exhibition: need to attract attention, to be noticed.
- Autonomy: need to be independent, to challenge authority.
- Affiliation: need to form friendships, to join groups.
- Dependence: need to ask for help when needed.
- Dominance: the need to influence others, to advise and organize.
- Change: the need to avoid routine.
The disadvantages of vacationing in a winter resort
Certain moments of a winter vacation trip are determined in which each one includes a series of disadvantages:
- When choosing and planning our ski trip, we have to solve organizational and operative situations that we would like to avoid such as reservations, the trip itself, settling into the accommodation, etc. It would be advisable to start with the idea of finding a mental balance that allows us to enjoy the moments of pleasure that we deserve.
- The activity in the resort includes the difficulty of the traffic, the setback of the lines in the ski lifts and ski rental, which are normal situations in a ski resort. If this is added to the daily conflicts from work, home, couple or family, it can generate complications that may affect our long-desired vacations. The suggestion is to keep realistic expectations, not idealistic ones, and accept that there is a possibility that something may go wrong but if we are prepared, the risk of frustration is minimized. Why is it advisable to lower expectations? Because, generally, we fall into the error of believing that a vacation in the mountains will be idyllic, when the purpose is to achieve a state of well-being in an idyllic place. Among the inconveniences when carrying out activities are stress causing sources in people coming from places with high population density such as noise, constant rush, interrupted rest, altered emotional state, and work and/or family problems.
- Other inconveniences include the return to obligations. The time spent skiing has an end and keeping this in mind makes it possible to return to the daily routine with energy, otherwise it predisposes to do it in a state of despondency. A common phenomenon affecting us is the post-holiday syndrome characterized by generalized fatigue, insomnia problems, limited concentration, and even a feeling of intolerance and idleness to work. A strategy to avoid the abruptness of this change is to plan the return a couple of days before the start of daily activities in order to get used to everyday rhythms of sleep and nutrition.
- In the recall period the satisfaction of the skiing experience is not generated at a given moment but is a process that starts from the departure trip. Some or all aspects of this satisfactory, or unsatisfactory, experience may linger in the memory and be used for further evaluation.
