From Adam Tooze's Chartbook, #180:
The ski business worldwide.
Source: Vail
Do you ski? As a matter of lifestyle and recreational distinction, it is a question up there with “do you play golf?” or “do you play chess?”.
Of course, if you are born in cold regions of the world, or in the mountains, the answer, regardless of social class and cultural milieu, is likely, “yes, of course, I ski”. For everyone else, it’s a telling question indeed.
For those mulling the seasonal question, Ones and Tooze is to hand this week to help you sift through the noise, with an episode on the war in Ukraine and the economics of snow.
Of 8 billion total population worldwide, it is thought that about 135 million people regularly ski, so about 1.5 percent. There are c. 2000 alpine skiing destinations in the world with the vast majority in North America, Asia and above all Europe. Unsurprisingly, given that the cost of even a short skiing trip can easily run into many thousands of dollars per person - allowing for travel, lodgings, ski pass and equipment - skiers are an affluent group. Roughly 20 million of the world’s skiers in any one year are in the US, if you include snowboarders. 15 million or so come from Germany....
....MUCH MORE
