That being said, I agree with you that their progress has been pretty damn slow. They do 1-2 test flights per year...
As for demand, doesn’t Virgin Galactic, who will offer something very similar, have a customer list with hundreds of people who have prepaid? Demand might be much higher than you are suggesting.
You aren't going "to" some place unless you can actually stay there for a period of time. But that is just my personal view.
Another way of looking at it -- if the earth didn't have an atmosphere, would you be going "to space" by jumping on a trampoline? (ignoring the fact that we evolved to live in an atmosphere, of course).
The exiting of the atmosphere is part of the view [1], but it works in concert with the altitude. Trampolines, as far as I am aware, are incapable of propelling one to an altitude that provides such incredible views :)
[1] https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1...
They've been making a lot of progress. The BE-4 engine is under development. And their orbital rocket and lunar lander were announced within the last few years.
It's a slow-and-steady approach, sure, but they're making tangible progress.
Work on the New Glenn started in 2012. It was publicly announced in 2016. It’s still at least a year from flight.
Work on the BE-4 started in 2011. It’s first public planned release date was 2017, it’s at least 4 years late.
BE-4 is the #1 project at BO, which is funding R&D at $1B a year.
And calling them sub-orbital is being generous. Mercury suborbital flights flew much higher and faster, and actually covered hundreds of miles in a parabolic arc. By comparison New Shepherd is a toy, a very expensive trampoline.