The Canadian Ski Council (www.skicanada.org) released their latest research and I will spare you the long read. In essence, the report states that the 08/09 season saw a decline from the record high skier visits in 07/08 for Canada. The only region that saw growth was the Atlantic region. The biggest decline was heliski operators (29% decrease from previous year). This makes sense considering the economy…
As far as Ski Travel Markets, no surprises here. The US represents 6% of skier visits and the UK is the next most important market representing 4.2% of skier visits followed by Australia/New Zealand at 3.2%. Mexico was recorded for the first time in 2008 and has surpassed Japan as the fourth largest international market at .5%
I’m not going to get into the details of the alpine skier profile and snowboarder profile as these are based on averages and tend to be pretty meaningless in the end.
Last but not least is the Ski Safety section which reports that skiing and riding have much lower incidence rate than any other winter sport (except snowmobiling, but is that really a sport?). Hockey has the highest incidence rate of head injuries even though helmet and face shield use is mandatory at all levels of amateur hockey.
So, that’s it folks. Put your kids in ski school instead of hockey programs and make friends with mexicans on your next surf trip – they may just be on the chairlift with you next ride up.
