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By Bill Wilson Business reporter, BBC News
With the latest competitive skiing season taking to the slopes once again and
the next Winter Olympics just around the corner, the sport is enjoying a period
of high-profile media coverage.
Skiing is more than just an exciting sport, it is also seen as a glamorous
leisure industry which brings together healthy sporting activity, tourism and
hospitality.
But, like another sport which has traditionally been associated with a certain
level of economic affluence - golf - it finds itself facing a number of
challenges and opportunities.
While participation appears to have levelled off - or is maintaining slight
growth - in traditional territories such as the UK, mainland Europe and US,
there is growing interest among citizens of countries such as Russia and China.
Numerous factors are having an impact on the industry - including ageing
participants, business consolidation, technological and climate change, and
even Brexit.
"Nearly everywhere, the industry is facing the challenge of generating long
term growth," says Swiss researcher Laurent Vanat, who each year publishes an
International Report on Snow and Mountain Tourism, an in-depth overview of key
factors in the ski industry.
"In many places, the market is more than mature and the baby-boomers represent
the majority of participants. This generation will progressively exit some of
the mature markets without being adequately replaced by future generations with
the same enthusiasm for skiing."
'Bubble of wealth'
Indeed, in the UK - where the market according to holiday firm SkiWeekends.com
is worth close to 3bn - more than two-thirds of those who ski are aged between
43 to 65.
And those stats are supported by Charles Owen, managing director of European
Pubs Ltd, which operates bars and restaurants in French resorts frequented by
skiers from the UK and other nations.
"Like golf, skiing is not a cheap sport, and there is a bubble of wealth that
is getting older," he says. "I see a situation in the future ski market, where
if we are not careful we are not going to get enough young people into skiing
and skiing regularly."
Mr Owen says another challenge facing the continental ski market is the
potential effect of Brexit.
With sterling's fall in value since the British referendum on EU membership, it
is becoming more expensive for UK skiers to take breaks in Eurozone nations.
"In fact, more people in the industry are becoming terrified by it," he says.
"There is no guarantee Britons will continue to come over in such numbers. In
France they are concerned if UK firms stop selling the holidays, there will
need to be a restructuring of the market."
He says there has already been a demographic change at some "British" resorts,
such as Val-d'Isere or Meribel, with the appearance of more skiers from
mainland Europe. He also says more Russians have been coming into the French
ski market, particularly around the resort of Courchevel.
While admitting to industry challenges, Mr Owen says ski technology has moved
forward - with comfier boots and parabolic, curved, skis - making it
potentially easier for beginners to take up the sport.
Meanwhile budget airlines have also make it easier to get to resorts, and other
disruptors, such as AirBnB mean would-be skiers can put together their own
packages without the need to stay at expensive hotels and chalets.
'Enjoyable time'
In the traditional Alpine skiing hotbed of central Europe other changes have
been taking place to keep the industry relevant and appealing in the 21st
Century.
In fact preliminary figures for the last winter season 2016-2017 from
Statistics Austria show both the number of overnight stays (68.57 million, up
by 0.1%) and the number of arrivals (18.82 million, up by 2.5%) were up.
Dr Robert Kaspar from Schloss Seeburg University in Austria, says people are
now coming for shorter breaks, and also looking to incorporate other activities
into their mountain stays.
"People want to have other experiences in the mountains, for example on
horseback. There is also the development of the culinary experience on the
mountain. People want to have an enjoyable time and eat well," he says.
"There have been efforts to make the whole experience remain very strong and
attractive. In the current climate people also want to visit countries seen as
safe, and also to be more physically active than they used to be."
In addition, he says the trade has also been helped by ski resorts merging to
create bigger skiing areas.
"That is good because a skier can cruise in a wider region in a day," says Dr
Kaspar.
The key visitors to the Austrian Alps are Germans, the second market is
interestingly enough the Netherlands, and there are still UK visitors. "There
are always opportunities for new visitors, and our Russian visitors are coming
on stream now too," he adds.
In such as enduring market he says there have been a couple of downsides: the
tendency of people to hire skis rather than buy them is having an adverse
effect on equipment manufacturers, and there is a continued danger of climate
change affecting snow availability in resorts under 1,000 metres.
'Totally focussed'
While mature ski locations come up with innovations to keep the visitors
numbers coming in, one emerging nation hopes to turn itself into a winter
sports powerhouse.
"Winter sports are really really important in China right now," says Simon
Chadwick, professor of sports enterprise at Salford Business School.
"Sports like skiing, and developing a winter sports industry, have definitely
become a priority. There is a huge interest, related to the growth of the
middle class and also the fact that Beijing hosts the Winter Olympics in four
years' time.
"The word in Beijing is that money is being diverted from summer Olympic sports
towards winter ones."
And he says there is research under way at Tsinghua University to develop all
aspects of a winter sports industry.
"They are totally focused, on everything from opening and running ski resorts,
to the commercialisation of merchandising and ski wear," he says.
"In terms of markets, China is a significant opportunity for the industry as a
whole. The industry can only grow there, whereas in the UK, US and Europe there
is a constant threat of interest waning."
But Mr Vanat warns that unless quicker ways are found to teach younger people
how to ski, including in China, then the industry faces an uncertain future.
"Otherwise youngsters will get bored, and do something else. Unless there are
methods to teach people to ski in hours rather than a week, then underlying
structural problems will always be there."