LISTEN: Ski season brings in £21 million to Scottish economy
Scotland’s five mountain ski areas brought in almost £21 million to the Scottish economy this season.
Scotland’s five mountain ski areas brought in almost £21 million to the Scottish economy this season.
They report a total of 207,770 ‘skier days’ for the season which ended last month.
Andy Meldrum from Glencoe Mountain Resort has been speaking to our reporter Lizzie Parker:
Scotland’s five ski resorts are based at CairnGorm Mountain, near Aviemore, Glencoe Mountain Resort between Tyndrum and Ballachulish, Glenshee Ski Centre between Blairgowrie and Braemar, the Nevis Range, near Fort William and The Lecht Ski Centre, between Strathdon and Tomintoul
It’s estimated that almost £17 million was spent in local businesses, like hotels, cafes, restaurants and shops, with a further £4 million going to the ski resorts.
Chair of Ski-Scotland Heather Negus said: “We are delighted with these figures. Although they are lower than last season, they are much better than anticipated, given the late start to the season. This year, the season did not start until mid-January, as opposed to last winter, when our first ski areas were open by mid-December.”
The five mountain ski areas operated for a total of 404 days during season 2016, whereas the previous two seasons allowed operations on 463 and 441 days respectively.
Although fewer days were lost to storm conditions this year, the late start did have a significant impact.
Heather Negus added: “Most snowsports countries around the world find that skiers and snowboarders are always raring to go at the start of the season and interest dies off after Easter when there’s warmer temperatures in the valleys and at sea level. Scotland is no different – everyone wants to come as soon as there’s enough snow for sliding fun and that’s when the weather tends to be least predictable. Once people see daffodils in parks and gardens, they seem to switch from skiing or snowboarding to thinking about biking or golf – or doing the garden – and numbers drop significantly even when there’s excellent snow and wonderful overhead weather. Although this season was short, we found that on average across the resorts there were more skiers each day – 514 per day in 2016 compared to only 497 for season 2014-15.”
All the snowsports areas have now switched to their summer activity operations, with some already also working on new facilities for season 2016-17.