What is the future of skiing?

We wanted to get to the bottom of this question, so we invited Günther Aigner, a renowned researcher in ski tourism, to give a presentation on this topic at our in-house exhibition "World of Sports". During this event, we looked at the following statements together:

• There are currently 135 million skiers worldwide, more than ever before.
• Skiing will become a premium sport with dynamic pricing in Europe in the future (as it already has in America).
• Austria's official Austrian climate scenarios currently assume that, in the worst case, the snow line will be 656 feet higher by 2050. This means that 80 % of today's ski resorts are still guaranteed to have snow in 2050.
• Due to climate change, summer tourism is set to play a much more significant role in the Alps.
• Austrian cableways, lifts, and snow cannons consume around 270 GWh of electricity every year (99.9 % of which is green electricity), which is equivalent to approx. 9,000 metric tons of carbon emissions. By comparison, US pop star Taylor Swift had a carbon footprint of around 8,300 metric tons in the first half of 2022 alone, according to FAZ newspaper.
• Snowmaking and slope preparation do not have a negative impact on the fauna and flora of ski areas.

Despite all the reports we hear in the media every day, Mr. Aigner's conclusion on the situation makes us optimistic, as he said in a conversation with Axel Obermayer, Head of Marketing at WINTERSTEIGER Sports GmbH: “We'll still be skiing in 2050, but skiing as we now know it will definitely change.”

And the registration and visitor figures for our in-house exhibition were just as positive as the conclusion to this discussion. We are already looking forward to the second block of events in April!