Many businesses like nudism need to attract younger customers

AANR, the American Association for Nude Recreation realizes for nudism to grow, it will have to reach out and attract guests in their 20's and 30's.

Here at Terra Cotta Inn, Palm Springs, California we are one of the few nudist resorts that caters to all ages from the 20's to 80's. Because we are a vacation resort and not just a weekend get away like most nudist resorts, we have all age groups come here for their vacations. Plus since we are the best value nudist vacation in the US, it also encourages all ages.

Now I have heard from people that nudism is dying off as some old nudist campgrounds and clubs are closing. That is so untrue. Here in Palm Springs, we still have one of the highest occupancy rates of ALL hotels in town. Haulover nude beach is the most popular beach in Florida.

Just like in any industry, consumers vote with their wallets. Those places people don't want to go to struggle and then go out of business. Those places people like, thrive. We still are averaging an 80% repeat guest rate which is one of the highest in the whole travel industry and are the most popular clothing optional vacation resort in Palm Springs and the western US.

Our younger employees like Patty our manager and Norma (both of whom are in their 20's) realize that to attract younger guests, you have to show younger people in your advertising too. They have both allowed us to photograph them to help promote our resort to younger guests.

Now nude recreation is not the only industry that realizes that you have to reach out to younger customers. Just this week in USA Today newspaper on May 12th, there was an article about the Preakness horse race saying how horse racing is falling out of favor with younger people. The title of the article was called "To attract young crowd, ad campaign gets a bit freaky."

The article said the attendance dropped from 100,000 to 78,850 last year and the horse race was not getting younger fans. It said "the Jockey Club and racing have been criticized for many years that their advertising and marketing campaigns are same old, same old, nothing exciting."

The article continues "the other thing we've been criticized for is when we do market, we don't target a younger demographic. In looking at this campaign, we basically wanted to target 21-to-35 year olds. So we had to speak their language." They have "received scant protest - a phone call and two e-mails - saying the campaign is 'too edgy, too risque.'"

The whole idea here is you don't abandon your bread and butter, the baby boomers as 1 out of every 3 Americans above age 21 is a baby boomer. You keep them by excellent customer service. However, you have to start attracting younger people to enjoy nude recreation for the future.

Nudism has to change as customers change if it want to be viable in the future.

Tom Mulhall
Terra Cotta Inn clothing optional resort and spa
palm Springs, California
For info and reservations call 1-800-786-6938
Our resort site is http://sunnyfun.com
Join our facebook page at http://bit.ly/TerraCottaInnFBPage