Skiflation threatens to make skiing a sport for the old and rich
Posted on 15 February 2011 with no comments from readers
Two hundred euro ski passes and about the same for a decent pair of skis and boots. Welcome to the skiing season of 2011 in Austria.
Blame the economic recovery in Germany and the hard core of the euro zone. Not for them the sickly recovery of the US. This has been a Chinese style revival, and indeed it has been largely Chinese orders for German cars and industrial equipment that is driving this recovery.
Recovery cycle
Hotels have noticed a market pick up in demand since the dog days of 2010 when occupancy hovered at 50 per cent in the season unless you slashed your prices. So room rates are also up.
And yet something is not quite right. Where are the young skiers? Most of the clients seem middle-aged, sometimes with children and sometimes not.
Unemployment still casts a long shadow over the career prospects of the younger generation in Europe. Then again perhaps they can just not afford the lift passes and skis. Other priorities beckon.
If so this is bad news for the future of the skiing industry. An ageing clientele will not be able to ski forever. Or will the Alps become one large old people’s home?
These Austrian towns and villages have invested a fortune in their infrastructure. It’s not just the hotels. You have the ski area with its lifts and artificial snow machines, all consuming expensive electricity.
They have put all their eggs into this one economic basket. If skiing stops being the golden goose then they are in trouble.
Empty slopes
Already the slopes seem a bit emptier than in the past. It was not like this a couple of decades ago. At that time the middle-aged skiers who now prop up the bars from a very early hour were up for the first runs.
Could this be another European sunset industry that is pricing itself out of existence? Sadly this is the way the business cycle often works and a service sector like tourism is no different.
Too much skiflation and the young folks head off to try something different, like long-haul flights to the beaches of Dubai.
