Despite the pre-formatted anti-ski ideology spread by mainy media, politicians and part of the general public, skiing is not yet finished. Many mountain destinations around the world are happy to continue welcoming their winter guests, supplying for substantial part of their local economy.

This is shown by the figures of researcher Laurent Vanat presented in his world-wide industry report. In several markets records off attendance had been measured. China has been the only market which still suffered from last covid-19 impacts.

One can say that most of the ski resorts are coming back to business as usal.

Different conditions for the season

Of course, it is no surprise for the industry that season’s weather and snow conditions are a major driver of visitation and, part of business as usual, some countries experienced favourable conditions when other had to face a more reluctant mother nature.

Compared to pre-covid-19 five-year average, the 2022/23 ski season features highs and downs depending on the countries. Canada, Italy and the United States had their best season on record, while Germany had its worse.

“However I think, if the weather conditions will be better in the following winter season also Germany is going to reach its pre-covid level again. The skiers are steadily coming back to the slopes“, says the author Laurent Vanat.

Participation rate

150 million people are currently skiing world wide which is according to Vanat an all time high. China has the most people skiing (36 millions). In the USA 25 million people are skiing, followed by Germany with 14,6 million people.

Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Austria have the highest proportion of skiers in relation to the total population. In these three countries, more than 30 percent of the population are skiing.

However the skiers in the alps and Western Europe are going down, while the skiers in Easter Europe and Central Asia are rising. Japan is facing a reducement of skiers. “At first glance, this may seem worrying, but we still have the same number of skiers world wide“, explains Vanat.

“Data from the 16th issue of the International Report on Snow & Mountain Tourism refutes the pessimisticviews of many media and institutions on the development prospects of the skiing market. Although climate change, among others, has indeed caused great uncertainty for the skiing industry, data from most countries show that most ski resorts are developing healthily and sustainably steady with more and more skiers willing to return to the ski resorts“, Benny Wu, Vice Chairman of Beijing Ski Association supplemented.

And the big ski resorts?

France and Austria (13 each destinations) and Switzerland (7) are home to the biggest ski resorts (with a volume of more than 1 million skier visits). They are
followed by the USA (6), Italy and Sweden (2). Worldwide there are 50 large ski areas, 78 percent of them are in the alps.