A record-breaking figure: 399 million skier days
Whilst many observers predicted an inevitable decline in the sector following the health crisis, the raw figures from this 18th edition of the report contradict this analysis. The report, which covers the 2024–2025 season (a period required to consolidate global data, particularly from the Southern Hemisphere), reveals that the industry is in excellent health.
“The key finding of the 2026 report (…) is that this has been the best season of the first quarter of the century,” says Laurent Vanat. With a total of 399 million skier days, the sector has not performed this well since the year 2000. This performance is no fluke: “Many critics believe that skiing is on the decline. Well, no (…) the last few years have been better than the years before COVID”.
Structural stability and unexpected ‘enemies’
The sector’s vitality can also be gauged by its geographical stability. The ‘club’ of ski nations analysed remains unchanged, with 68 countries offering ski resorts. Whilst Saudi Arabia is knocking on the door, two countries have been unable to operate this season for telling reasons: Israel and South Africa. Laurent Vanat highlights a crucial point here: it is not the climate that has halted ski lifts in these regions, but economic and geopolitical factors. For the expert, the conclusion is clear: “The ski industry has enemies far more dangerous than climate change”, as geopolitics can wreak far more immediate havoc.
Technical optimisation rather than decline
The report also provides a key insight into the global ski lift network. Whilst the total number of lifts appears to be stagnating or falling, this should not be seen as a sign of an industry in decline, but rather as a case of rational optimisation. In major resorts, particularly in France, the trend is towards replacing several older lifts with a single, far more efficient one. In reality, whilst the number of units is decreasing, overall transport capacity is increasing.
Who are these record-breaking skiers?
Laurent Vanat qualifies the nature of this growth. Whilst the number of skiers worldwide is on the rise, this growth is described as “extensive”, driven mainly by China, where new skiers are still relatively inexperienced. The real driving force behind this record figure of 399 million lies in loyalty: “It is not the increase in the number of skiers in itself that really creates an increase in the number of skier days. Rather, it is current skiers, those who ski more often, or even people who had stopped skiing but have returned to the slopes”. It is this resurgence in skiing among regular skiers, which began just after the COVID pandemic, that is now driving the industry to historic heights.
When the sun breaks through the thick blanket of snow
One of the most surprising findings of this 18th edition concerns skiers’ resilience in the face of weather conditions. For the first time, and in such a striking manner, the report observes a disconnect between the amount of snowfall and visitor numbers. “A significant trend during the 2024–25 season is the decoupling between snow depth and visitor numbers,” says Laurent Vanat.
The ‘sun seed’ as a driver of visitor numbers
It appears that, provided there is a minimum amount of snow, skiers now prefer sunshine to an abundance of powder snow. The expert highlights an interesting climate paradox: “Global warming may be bringing us slightly less snow, but it is also bringing us more sunshine. And ultimately, sunshine, as long as there is a bit of snow, is good for visitor numbers”. This observation challenges the dogma that a lack of snow would spell the end of skiing. In reality, weather that is too ‘generous’ with precipitation can prove counterproductive: whilst the French Pyrenees have seen record levels (as in Saint-Lary), the good weather has been conspicuously absent in certain resorts. “The situation immediately becomes less favourable” as soon as the sun disappears, he explains.
Long-term snow reliability
Laurent Vanat uses this report to put global snow cover data into perspective, drawing on records spanning more than 30 years. In the United States, systematic measurements show that average snow cover remains stable, despite annual fluctuations. In Switzerland, an analysis of ten measurement points at an altitude of 1,700 metres is equally revealing: “We can see that there is no strong downward trend in average snow cover either”.
On the contrary, statistical trends over three decades actually suggest a slight increase, albeit one that purists would consider insignificant. This analysis allows the expert to conclude that, whilst seasonal patterns can be unpredictable, the notion of a linear and inevitable decline in snowfall is not supported by the current figures. For resorts, the challenge is therefore not just to have snow, but to know how to capitalise on those periods of fine weather that attract skiers.
The end of the ‘globalised family’: the impact of geopolitics
Whilst climate change often dominates media coverage, Laurent Vanat identifies a more immediate threat: the geopolitical fragmentation of the sector. For a long time, the ski industry was the perfect example of a globalised market where European expertise was spreading across the globe. “This ski market, which used to be a small globalised family (…) has, in the space of five or six years, become more of a constellation of entirely independent systems,”, laments the expert. Several major factors are driving this inward-looking trend:
Technological self-sufficiency: the cases of China and Russia
The shift began with the health crisis, but has accelerated as a result of political decisions or necessity.
- China: After importing Western expertise on a massive scale, the country used the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to cut the cord. It “abandoned its external consultants and partnerships with European companies to find its own way”. China is now developing its own production of ski lifts and ski equipment.
- Russia: Hit by sanctions linked to the war in Ukraine, Russia has been abruptly cut off from its European suppliers. As a result, it now manufactures its own equipment. Paradoxically, this shift is benefiting its domestic resorts, which are seeing visitor numbers soar, as Russian skiers can no longer travel to the Alps. Vanat warns: “We may one day face Russian ski lifts” that will compete with the long-standing leaders.
Protectionism and a ‘two-tier’ industry: the US shift
For Laurent Vanat, whilst the ski industry has long been a model of a globalised market where European expertise was exported without borders, that era is coming to an end. Driven by tariffs and increased protectionism in the United States, manufacturing processes must be completely rethought. Previously, the European ski lift giants used their American subsidiaries solely to produce secondary components such as pylons.
The requirement to produce the bulk of infrastructure locally is now raising fears of a market splitting into two. Laurent Vanat warns: “We risk ending up with a two-tier system”, with US facilities potentially reverting to a “less sophisticated technology than in Europe”, favouring more basic, typically American systems at the expense of the latest sophisticated innovations from the Old Continent. This technological and industrial regression risks, in the long run, having repercussions on the wallets of skiers across the Atlantic, as these simplified facilities could, paradoxically, “end up costing American skiers more”.
‘Territorial protection’
This fragmentation does not stop at the factories; it extends right into the heart of Alpine villages in the form of resistance to foreign ownership. Laurent Vanat observes a growing trend towards ‘territorial preservation’, where local communities seek to retain control over their means of production. The most striking example is that of the municipality of Laax in Switzerland, which bought back its own ski lift infrastructure to guarantee its independence and “prevent American settlers from moving in”.
Enemies ‘more dangerous’ than climate change
To conclude this geopolitical analysis, Laurent Vanat makes a scathing observation:
“The ski industry has enemies far more dangerous than climate change”.
Whilst global warming is a long-term concern, economic tensions and armed conflicts have a far more brutal and immediate impact.
As proof, this season it was not snow conditions that prevented skiing in Israel or South Africa, but rather the geopolitical context and economic instability. These factors can cause “greater damage in the short term” than changes in snow cover, reminding us that global stability is, just as much as the cold, an essential condition for the survival of the mountain economy.
Regional trends: the Alps remain strong, whilst the East lies in wait
The geographical analysis in the 2026 report reveals significant disparities underlying the global records. Whilst the Alps remain the mainstay of the market, their dominance is being challenged by profound changes in Asia and Eastern Europe.
An Alpine massif with two distinct zones
The major markets in the Alpine region are in excellent health, with most exceeding their pre-COVID averages. “Over the last three years, Italy has had its best seasons based on the figures I’ve ever seen,” notes Laurent Vanat. Switzerland and France are also “well ahead” of their historical levels. Conversely, Austria remains the only major player lagging behind, having not yet fully recovered its pre-pandemic visitor numbers. More worryingly, Germany is suffering from a chronic shortfall: the problem of low altitude is “more acute there than in other countries”, making the operation of its small resorts heavily dependent on increasingly unpredictable natural snowfall.
Ukraine and China: growth against all odds
In the east, the report highlights projects on an unprecedented scale. Despite the conflict, Ukraine is surprising observers with its dynamism: “Apparently the war economy is working well”, smiles the expert. A major new resort, Goro Mountain, is currently under construction in the west of the country to rival Bukovel, which until now has been the country’s only resort meeting international standards.
In China, growth is taking a form unique in the world with the rise of indoor ski centres. Whilst this model remains a niche phenomenon elsewhere, it now accounts for 20% of China’s total visitor numbers. With the recent opening of massive facilities in Shanghai and Shenzhen, China has established itself as the undisputed leader in this urban activity. Outdoors, it is the Xinjiang region that is now driving the development of traditional ski resorts.
The great shift in trade flows: heading east
The report highlights a historic shift in long-distance travel patterns. Having long been focused on North America, frequent ski travellers are now changing course. “Long-distance travel patterns are shifting eastwards; in other words, Americans are coming to ski in Europe, Europeans are going to ski in Asia and Japan, and the Chinese are travelling to Japan,” explains Laurent Vanat.
The Japanese paradox and the case of Niseko
Japan is the main beneficiary of this trend. Australians, who once favoured the United States, now overwhelmingly choose Japanese resorts. This phenomenon of international concentration is such that it is radically transforming the identity of certain ski areas. In Niseko, the proportion of international skiers is so high that the local experience is fading into the background: “Even the ski lift staff are international”, to the extent that you hardly ever see any Japanese people there anymore. This textbook example is also found, albeit to a lesser extent, in certain resorts in the Hakuba Valley.
Europe, a welcoming home for Americans
For their part, American skiers are increasingly crossing the Atlantic. This trend is being driven by two factors: European prices, which have become more competitive than those at major American resorts, and the acceptance of mega-passes (Epic Pass, Icon Pass and Indy Pass) at certain Alpine resorts. Laurent Vanat points out, however, that this growth in the number of American skiers in Switzerland is “widespread”, even affecting resorts that are not part of these international pass agreements.
The ‘ideal model’: the impossibility of standardisation
Faced with these challenges, we asked Laurent Vanat for his views: is there such a thing as an ideal ski resort model, a formula for success that can be replicated at will? His answer is unequivocal: the ski industry defies the laws of industrial standardisation.
“I’ve always admired McDonald’s, their ability to go anywhere in the world and serve you their products to the same standard (…) I’m always looking for someone in the ski industry who can do that, but there isn’t anyone,” he says. For him, every resort is a unique convergence of political, environmental and geographical factors that prevent the creation of a replicable ‘formula’.
When asked to cite references, the expert offers a mixed analysis:
- Zermatt (Switzerland): “Zermatt is a destination with an iconic mountain, a superb ski area and a fantastic car-free village connected by rail”. In his view, it is the resort that ticks the most boxes for success.
- Chamonix (France): Although it also has an iconic reputation, the resort is considered more challenging: “The ski area is much more spread out. Getting to Chamonix by train is possible, but relatively complicated”.
This 18th international report delivers a nuanced yet resolutely combative final message. The ski industry is far from being on its last legs; it is undergoing a major transformation. Whilst the record of 399 million skier days demonstrates the sector’s vitality, the future will depend on the resorts’ ability to navigate a fragmented world.
Between record visitor numbers and shifting geopolitical boundaries, ski resorts must now come to terms with a reality in which economic stability and peace have become just as critical as the cold. Geopolitics and the economy can, in fact, cause “greater damage in the short term” than changes in snow cover. For those involved in the mountain industry, the challenge of tomorrow will be as much about climate as it is about people.
