The Skier and Boarder International Flux Survey shows that resort business has been rather flat on a worldwide basis, with some variations from country to country. Spain, Eastern Europe and China show the greatest growth, while France shows moderate growth. Markets have been flat for Austria and the U.S., Switzerland has contracted slightly and Japan dramatically.
Revenues. Revenues per skier visit are very difficult to compare on a global basis for two reasons. First, the data from abroad is not nearly as accurate as it is in the U.S. In order to devise a way to compare revenue, we have simply divided the total revenues for a given country’s industry by the number of visits, except for the U.S., where the data comes from NSAA’s yearly Economic Analysis.
Second, the way mountain resorts are operated around the world can vary substantially. For example, resorts in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand almost always run the ski school, base area and on-mountain restaurants, some retail and rental shops, real estate and other revenue sources. In other parts of the world, each of these revenue sources is run independently.
| Country | Revenue per Visit |
|---|---|
| USA | $58.48 |
| Australia | $55.04 |
| Japan | $26.52 |
| Switzerland | $24.76 |
| New Zealand | $21.68 |
| Germany | $19.87 |
| Andorra | $19.08 |
| Finland | $17.59 |
| Austria | $16.15 |
| Norway | $14.75 |
| France | $13.44 |
| Chile | $5.14 |
Resort visits. The top four markets—Japan, U.S., France and Austria—are very close in size (see table next page).
Skier visits among these top markets have been fairly consistent from year to year, with the exception of Japan. The ski business grew tremendously in Japan in the 1970s and 1980s (there were no snowboarders then) to reach the incredible figure of 115 million visits during the 1992-93 season. Last year, Japan did only 45 percent of that number!
What’s interesting about the Japan case is that the precipitous drop in skier visits cannot be blamed on economy alone, but rather on societal pressures. Skiing was the hot thing to do until a decade ago—now, it’s passé. This gives a very clear picture about the difference between an activity that is a temporary fad rather than an integral part of a society’s recreational culture.
| Country | Visits |
|---|---|
| France | 57.6 |
| Austria | 56.0 |
| USA | 52.2 |
| Japan | 52.0 |
| Italy | 37.0 |
| Switzerland | 17.0 |
| Canada | 17.0 |
| Spain | 5.2 |
| Norway | 4.0 |
| Slovakia | 3.9 |
| Yugoslavia (former) | 3.7 |
| Sweden | 3.6 |
| Andorra | 2.6 |
| Finland | 2.2 |
| Germany | 2.2 |
| Australia | 2.1 |
| Poland | 2.0 |
| South Korea | 1.9 |
| New Zealand | 1.1 |
| Chile | 0.7 |
| Argentina | 0.7 |
| Turkey | 0.6 |
| UK (Scotland) | 0.4 |
| Rest of the World | 2.6 |
| World Total | 330 |
Despite its dwindling number of snow sliders, Japan still has the largest domestic market—99 percent of its total. Tiny Andorra, with only 62,000 inhabitants, and Austria, which draws 80 percent of the German market, have the lowest percentage of domestic visits. In fact, they are the only two countries where the domestic market doesn’t represent at least two thirds of visits. Taken a step further, we can see that overall, international ski and snowboard travel is relatively small. With the exception of the German population, most winter enthusiasts choose their own backyard over traveling to another country.
It is worth noting, however, that the U.S. product does have some cachet and has been attracting Europeans (the U.K., Germany and Benelux especially) despite very strong, closer-to-home competition.
Market penetration. To measure the popularity of skiing/riding within a country, the study compares all visits by a country’s nationals to the total population (see table next page). This per-capita number measures the activity’s penetration within the general population.
It is no surprise to see Austria, Andorra and Switzerland, three countries almost entirely located within snow country, ahead in this group. Norway would have ranked high here as well if we had included nordic skiing.
The countries at the very top of the participation pile are industrialized countries with sizeable disposable income. They also have facilities within their borders or within reasonable distances. Countries toward the bottom of the chart, either have the bulk of their population residing too far away from the resorts (Australia) or have lesser disposable income (Chile), or both (Turkey).
Given these criteria, logic would dictate that the U.S would be at the top of the heap. However, at 0.19, it ranks eleventh on the list while France, which is a mostly flatland, urbanized country, ranks fourth.
Why isn’t the U.S. participation level higher? Availability and dollars are not to blame, but rather that third key ingredient: leisure time. Americans have about half as many vacation days as enthusiasts in Western and Central Europe.
This is a huge handicap for the entire U.S. leisure industry and also explains the popularity of short vacation trips (three-day weekends) and the big convention business market, which, as many Americans have figured out, is a creative way to mix business and pleasure.
If we dive deeper into participation figures, we find that across the board, it boils down to four things: time, money, interest and availability of facilities.
How does the U.S. compare to the rest of the world, especially the similar market in France, on these points?
Time. As we have already seen, the U.S. ski industry has a severe time handicap with no hope in sight (see table this page). There is little chance to force employers to grant their employees 35 hour work weeks, five weeks of paid vacation (including one week minimum that must be taken during the winter), and full retirement at 60, as is the case in France. That’s why Americans have adapted to the shorter vacations.
| Country | Days |
|---|---|
| Andorra | 44 |
| Finland | 42 |
| France | 41 |
| Austria | 40 |
| Australia | 36 |
| New Zealand | 32 |
| Norway | 31 |
| Switzerland | 31 |
| Slovakia | 28 |
| Japan | 25 |
| USA | 22 |
| Country | Visits per Capita |
|---|---|
| Austria | 2.37 |
| Andorra | 2.08 |
| Switzerland | 1.68 |
| France | 0.82 |
| Norway | 0.67 |
| Slovakia | 0.48 |
| Japan | 0.44 |
| Finland | 0.43 |
| Germany | 0.40 |
| New Zealand | 0.23 |
| USA | 0.19 |
| Australia | 0.12 |
| UK (Scotland) | 0.12 |
| Chile | 0.04 |
Money. Average leisure spending around the world varies widely.
The average share of a household budget in Europe spent for leisure/recreation is around 10 percent. It is only 4[.?] in the U.S. If we take France as an example, the average household income is $24,200, of which 8.8 percent ($2,132) is spent on recreation. This suggests that Americans not only have less leisure time, but also spend less on it.
Consider, too, how the skiing or boarding budget is allocated. Americans spend much more for hardgoods and softgoods than Europeans, which leaves them with less money to spend at the resort. French companies such as Rossignol and Salomon realize more than 25 percent of their alpine product sales in the U.S. and less than 10 percent in France, a market of comparable size. More than 50 percent of snow sliders in France rent their equipment while only around 25 percent do so here.
Finally, it doesn’t help that the average lift ticket price in the U.S. is double that of France’s.
Interest. It is difficult to assess individual and worldwide interest in wintersports and how participation levels are affected. For example, snowboarding, which came from nowhere in the early 1990s and has grown quickly, especially among the Anglo-Saxon and Japanese cultures, was thought to be a new source of growth for our industry, but unfortunately, that has not been the case (see table below). All around the world, it seems we have lost one skier for every boarder gained.
| Country | Share |
|---|---|
| New Zealand | 35% |
| Japan | 32% |
| USA | 26% |
| Andorra | 25% |
| Australia | 25% |
| Austria | 19% |
| Chile | 15% |
| Norway | 15% |
| Slovakia | 12% |
| France | 11% |
| Bulgaria | 10% |
| Turkey | 8% |
In France, a campaign has been underway for the last decade, to promote wintersports in general. However, current growth in France is mostly fueled from abroad.
The U.S., too, has launched many different campaigns over the years, but it is hard to assess their effectiveness. On the one hand, skier visits have been flat. On the other, might they have declined without the campaigns?
Resort availability. The French ski boom lasted from the mid 1960s to the early 1990s, paralleling the creation of some 20 new resorts. These helped maintain the interest of existing skiers and were instrumental in attracting new ones. In the mid-1970s, when the U.S. reached the 50 million visit mark for the first time, France was only doing 15 million skier visits. France’s per capita domestic skier visits were just a little above what it was for the U.S. Twenty-five years later, this ratio has tripled for France and has basically remained steady for the U.S.
Since the dramatic slowdown in development of new resorts in the U.S. in the past 25 years preceded the stabilization of the market, it’s fair to ask whether this was one of the factors that has hindered our growth?
Or, when compared to other countries around the world, is it a combination of factors?
Inside the International Flux Survey
This survey grew out of conversations that took place during the joint OITAF-NSAA convention in San Francisco in May 1999 after several countries expressed interest in improving their knowledge of the international alpine market (skiing, snowboarding, etc.). NSAA played a leading role along with FIANET (the ten member European federation of winter resort operators associations) and France Neige International (FNI). Some 30 countries agreed to participate, but only 15 completed the task. Four important alpine countries (Canada, Italy, Spain and Sweden) were not among them, and their absence kept the survey from being truly global. We included our best estimations of what some of the missing countries represent for alpine visits. Also, most data pertain to the “last season of record,” which varies from 1998-1999 to 2000-2001 depending on the country.
