Laurent Vat 2019 International Report on Snow one skier taking the same lift 5 times accounts for 5 skiers transported, also referred to as frequencies. National participation rate: Domestic skiers as a percentage of the total country population. This represents the total number of nominal skiers without any consideration for the frequency of visits to a ski resort. Thus, this rate includes skiers that did not ski during the latest season3. Ski area: A designated place where one skis (in some countries, these areas may not have lifts). Ski resort: In this report, a ski resort is considered as an organized ski area with more than four lifts. Skier: One person participating in skiing, snowboarding or other downhill sliding activity, independent of the frequency of his visits to ski resorts. Thus the wording also covers nominal skiers that do not ski each season. Skier visits (or skier-days): One person visiting a ski area for all or any part of a day or night for the purpose of skiing, snowboarding, or other downhill sliding activity. Skier visits include full-day, half-day, night, complimentary, adult, child, season pass and any other type of ticket that gives a skier/snowboarder the use of an area's facilities. A skier skiing for a whole week at a resort accounts for 7 skier visits (for example). The figures 2 A French / German / Chinese glossary is available at the end of the report. 3 Some countries, like the US, calculate a specific participation rate for each season, which only covers the related seasons active skiers and may vary considerably from the nominal participation rate. 2019 International Report on Snow & Mountain Tourism - 8 - Overview of the key industry figures for ski resorts - April 2019 Laurent Vat indicated in this report for countries or individual resorts usually refer to the last 5-year average. Skier visits per inhabitant: Ratio of domestic skier visits divided by the population. Skier visits per foreign visitor: Ratio of skier visits of foreign visitors divided by the total number of foreign visitors. Surface lift: Any kind of ski lift where the skier remains standing on their skis, pulled or pushed on the ground. This includes drag-lifts, rope tows, tow lifts, platter lifts (or button lifts), T-bars and beginner lifts. Vertical Transport Metres per Hour (VTMH): Product of each individual lifts hourly capacity multiplied by the vertical drop (the figure is usually expressed in thousands). 2019 International Report on Snow & Mountain Tourism Overview of the key industry figures for ski resorts - April 2019 - 9 - Introduction Even if there are few changes in the ski market from one season to the next, things are however not completely cast in stone. This report achieved a few years ago to cover the 67 countries in the world that have at least one equipped open air ski area (on snow) together with bonus sections about 4 more countries that used to have ski areas but no longer have: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bolivia and Colombia. It seems however that Afghanistan may soon join the circle again, with the revival of a ski area thanks to locally made skilift. Nepal may also soon join, with a projected small-scale ski area. This 11th edition of the International Report on Snow & Mountain Tourism goes on with the tradition of updating and adding new information to the former issues, in order to provide a comprehensive and reliable reference. Even if this goal is now pretty much achieved, the content will always need updates and will never cease seek improvements in accuracy. In several countries, the industry still lacks statistical resources and requires relying on estimates. Since some countries represent relatively small markets compared to alpine regions, they are not as well known. Therefore, for these countries, the report enters into more detail than with the more familiar markets, even if the size of the ski industry there may be insignificant. 2019 International Report on Snow & Mountain Tourism - 10 - Overview of the key industry figures for ski resorts - April 2019 Laurent Vat Further upwards? For the second year in a row, the winter season 2017/18 shows again a global trend upwards. Even if, as usually, some countries or regions performed better than others, this gives a positive sign after 3 years of decline. Although the worldwide ski industry faces challenges and the number of skiers in western countries tends to be more or less stagnant when not decreasing, the global performance remains at a high level. The 2017/18 winter globally ranks as the 4th best ski season of the new millennium. Of course the growth is led by China which becomes the 3rd nation in the world in terms of national skiers. But it is not limited to Asia & Pacific region. In fact, all other regions except America experienced growth over the former season. In Scandinavia, there seems to be a new interest for skiing. The trend has been upwards for 4 successive years and some new projects in the region are also promising. The southern hemisphere, although of little weight in the whole industry, performed very well during winter 2018. Despite positive signs, there still remain some other, less favourable global issues. First, the 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea did not bring any positive impulse in the ski industry in South Korea and the attendance at ski resorts is continuing to decline. Japan just stabilised at a very low level. The situation in these 2 countries emphasises that the ageing of the population and changing trends seem still to be pushing skiers away from the slopes. This remains a threat to the industry, especially as long as skiers are not enough dedicated to their sport. With the growth in China, it is becoming more and more important that new skiers embrace skiing with passion and commitment, as a healthy sport activity, part of a fit lifestyle that gives enough room to physical exercise and continuous practice. Fun and trendy is nice, but insufficient to ensure the long term growth of the ski industry. A second issue is the slow evolution or hold put on many promising projects in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Middle East. Some countries from these regions started with nice projects and some gave birth to state of the art ski resorts. However, it lately appeared that these nice resorts also need to have skiers. In countries with very limited snow culture, it may not have demonstrated so easy to attract skiers in the resorts. As stressed in this report for many years now, the international clients are only a limited number and any country that wants to develop its ski industry will have to do so mostly relying on its domestic market. Anyway, even if there are difficulties that cannot be denied, the ski market is not yet declining. And notwithstanding some too frequent big titles in the media! It still offers potential everywhere. Even on major mature markets, there is still room for improvement to get customers loyalty. It will be filled in by innovative entrepreneurs to skiers in search of more convenience.