Space Tourism and Focus Groups

Interesting article about focus groups which are often cited as proof
that a large market for space tourism exists.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2089677/

I have no idea what the market for space tourism is. I hope we find
out real soon.

Jim Davis

On 13 Oct 2003 23:08:09 GMT, in a place far, far away, Jim Davis
made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such
a way as to indicate that:

Interesting article about focus groups which are often cited as proof
that a large market for space tourism exists.

Who cites focus groups for that? Focus groups don't give quantitative
information--you get that from public opinion polls. Focus groups are
useful for determining the appeal of various products and tweaking
them thereby, not for determining demand. They're also flawed, as the
article points out, largely because there tends to be a large amount
of groupthink setting in. This isn't a problem with a well-designed
poll.

--
simberg.interglobal.org * 310 372-7963 (CA) 307 739-1296 (Jackson Hole)
interglobal space lines * 307 733-1715 (Fax) http://www.interglobal.org

"Extraordinary launch vehicles require extraordinary markets..."
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I have no idea what the market for space tourism is. I hope we find
out real soon.
The article said surveys may not work because consumers do not know what they
want. In a way this is correct.
Who would tell a surveyor they will spend big bucks for a Lunar vacation
when it's still in the realm of fantasy? You can't do a numbers forecast now.
but tourists are now travelling the ends of the earth and it doesn't take an
Einstein to figure out where they will go next, if there were transjportation--
space!
Numbers won't forecast it but space is a true case of the saying "Build it
and they will come!"
^
//^\\
~~~ near space elevator ~~~~
~~~members.aol.com/beanstalkr/~~~

Allen Meece wrote:

I have no idea what the market for space tourism is. I hope we find
out real soon.
The article said surveys may not work because consumers do not know what they
want. In a way this is correct.
Who would tell a surveyor they will spend big bucks for a Lunar vacation
when it's still in the realm of fantasy?

In the 1970's, how many consumers would have said that they would
willingly plunk down a couple grand for a box with a screen that makes
beep-beep noises and gets their kids hooked on porn and intellectual
property theft?

Never underestimate the willingness of people to throw money at the
latest new shiny thing, especially when good marketeers get involved.

--
Scott Lowther, Engineer
Remove the obvious (capitalized) anti-spam
gibberish from the reply-to e-mail address

"Scott Lowther" wrote in message
...
Allen Meece wrote:

I have no idea what the market for space tourism is. I hope we find
out real soon.
The article said surveys may not work because consumers do not know
what they
want. In a way this is correct.
Who would tell a surveyor they will spend big bucks for a Lunar
vacation
when it's still in the realm of fantasy?

In the 1970's, how many consumers would have said that they would
willingly plunk down a couple grand for a box with a screen that makes
beep-beep noises and gets their kids hooked on porn and intellectual
property theft?

Never underestimate the willingness of people to throw money at the
latest new shiny thing, especially when good marketeers get involved.

And if you would demonstrate Moore's Law in relation to space vehicles you
might have me persudaded.