admin – Alpine Winter Sports

22/04/202622/04/2026

Skiing Numbers continue to Climb

The 2024-25 season saw a record 399 million global skier visits, a 7.8% increase from the previous year. While this growth was widespread, the report highlights that the Alpine countries—Austria, France, Italy, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, and Switzerland—collectively account for 14% of the world’s estimated 150 million skiers. This places the Alpine region, including Switzerland, as a key pillar of the global ski market, alongside Western Europe (20%), the Americas (20%), and Asia-Pacific (33%).
Notably, the 2024-25 season saw strong demand despite below-average snow in parts of Europe, with snowmaking and operations helping to maintain visitation levels. While countries like the U.S., Italy, and Russia exceeded pre-Covid averages, the report notes that Japan and Germany have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels. China once again leads the ranking of countries performing above their historic pre-Covid five-year average.

The leading ski nations are:

1 United States — 61.6 million (+1.8%)

2 France — 54.8 million (+5.6%)

3 Austria — 51.9 million (+3.6%)

4 Italy — 34.8 million (+8.8%)

5 Japan — 28.2 million (+15.6%)

6 Switzerland — 26.3 million (+13.7%)

7 China — 26.1 million (+13.0%)

8 Canada — 19.8 million (+13.1%)

9 Sweden — 10.2 million (-2.9%)

The findings were released at the Mountain Planet trade show in Grenoble, France in the The International Report on Snow & Mountain Tourism 2024/5.

04/03/202604/03/2026

Premature Closure of Val Müstair for the season.

The unusually warm Winter has taken its first significant closure at the wonderful Minschuns ski area. The Communications Officer for Sportanlagen AG, Val Müstair, informs me that
“Due to the critical snow conditions in Val Müstair, the Minschuns winter sports area will close its facilities as early as Sunday, March 15, 2026”.

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28/02/2024

Economic Impact of Climate Change on Ski resorts

I read some articles recently in the academic press on the impact of global warming on ski resort economies. The value of winter sports to Alpine nations is substantial – one study reckoned that roughly half of overnight stays in Austria and Switzerland are attributable to winter tourism. I am sceptical of their claim that is over the whole year, but together with associated economic activity, skiing is clearly a major source of tourist revenue for Alpine nations.

One study of a German ski area, expected the impact of global warming by 2040 to be as much as 30% fewer skiers and a hit of up to 56% on the local economy, exacerbated by an aging skier demography. The study used estimates of what it called the “100 day rule” and the “Christmas rule”.

A study of 208 ski areas in Austria is more positive, citing snowmaking capacity and adaptive in-season demand as factors in mitigating climate change, This study estimated an average season length losses being 10-16% through until the 2050s. However the study recognises that the impact will be disproportionate with lower resorts inevitably the most hard hit.

NE USA Resorts marked in blue that will not be viable by 2040

Some of the literature identifies mitigation strategies. A paper on the impact for package holiday tourists came up with these conclusions: “winter mountain holidaying is a highly segmented market. Even at a mountain destination strongly associated with skiing, there are many tourists who do not ski and spend their time doing something else”. Eating and drinking figure highly, particularly enjoying local cuisines.

Swiss resorts in particular have an advantage for retaining winter tourists even if there is unreliable snow. Many Swiss resorts have charm and history. Additionally many benefit from higher altitude and a range of winter activities that don’t require snow, – such as ice-skating, curling and spas. Events like Arosa Gay Week and the WEF at Davos illustrate examples of where skiing may not be the main focus for winter sports destinations, and people still find value in their visit to the mountains even if it does not provide an extensive skiing experience with any reliability.