Follow-up - 2026 International Report on Snow & Mountain Tourism

The 2025/26 ski season, as covered by the International Report on Snow & Mountain Tourism, has not yet had its final say. Indeed, some ski areas are still open, as the ski season in the Southern Hemisphere will only come to an end in a few weeks’ time. Consolidating data from around the world is then a major undertaking that requires several additional months. The complete overview of the 2025/26 season will therefore be presented by Laurent Vanat in the 19th edition of his international report in April 2027, with a first presentation in collaboration with Mountain Planet.

In the meantime, the first provisional figures already published by several major industry players point to an overall satisfactory season in the main Alpine countries, although the United States appears to have experienced a less favourable trend. While these results still need to be confirmed, they are in line with the trends observed over recent years.

The consolidated results for the 2024/25 season presented in the 2026 International Report on Snow & Mountain Tourism confirm that the global ski industry continues to demonstrate remarkable resilience. With 399 million skier visits, the season became the best of the first quarter of the 21st century, surpassing the previous record of 392 million recorded in 2018/19. Following the interruption caused by the covid-19 pandemic, the growth momentum observed for more than a decade has therefore fully reasserted itself.

Ski resorts have progressively integrated the effects of climate change into their operations. Being on the front line in measuring its consequences, they have adapted their practices, investments and operational management. The figures nevertheless show that, at this stage, climate change has not caused the decline in attendance so often predicted in certain media narratives. On the contrary, most major markets have now returned to, or even exceeded, their pre-pandemic level of activity.

Despite a global context marked by numerous economic and geopolitical uncertainties, the 2024/25 season was characterised by several strong trends. Most countries recorded attendance above their average for the five years preceding the pandemic. Several destinations achieved record visitation despite sometimes limited natural snow cover. Attendance increased across all major regions of the world, while supply remained stable, with no significant reduction in the number of ski lifts or ski areas. The industry also continues to evolve under the influence of season passes, although this dynamic now appears to be reaching an inflection point in the United States.

The 2024/25 season also confirmed a major development: in many countries, attendance appears to be becoming less directly linked to the quantity of natural snow. Despite below-average snow cover in several regions, particularly at mid-altitudes, ski areas maintained or even improved their results through a combination of factors such as snowmaking, efficient operational management, sustained tourist demand and often favourable weather conditions. Italy and Switzerland both recorded their best results in more than fifteen years, while several other European countries, including France, Austria, Spain and Andorra, experienced a further increase in attendance.

These results support the view that the global ski industry has entered a new phase of maturity, characterised by a strong capacity for adaptation. They also suggest that, in the years ahead, geopolitical and economic developments could exert a more decisive influence on ski markets than the effects of climate change alone.

While the first indicators for the 2025/26 season appear to confirm this overall trend, the 2027 edition of the International Report on Snow & Mountain Tourism will provide a new comprehensive global review and determine whether this momentum is continuing.

here are currently 68 countries in the world that offer equipped outdoor ski areas covered with snow. Even if snowfields are much more numerous, about 2’000 ski resorts have been identified worldwide. Besides the major ski destinations in terms of skier visits, there are a number of other, smaller destinations, where skiing has been an industry for a long time, or is currently developing. The most obvious emerging destinations are Eastern Europe and China, but there are a number of other small players spread out across the globe: Cyprus, Greece, India, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Lesotho, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Turkey and many more.

Laurent Vanat is an independent international consultant holding a Master’s degree in Commercial and Industrial Sciences from the University of Geneva. Specialised in business strategy, business reviews, management and market analysis, he has progressively become a recognised expert in alpine tourism and the ski resort industry. Since 2009, he has published annually the International Report on Snow & Mountain Tourism, which is widely considered the most comprehensive independent benchmarking resource on the performance of ski resorts and the state of the global ski industry. The report is regularly presented at major international conferences and industry events, including those organised by OITAF, UN Tourism, FIS, Mountain Planet, ALPITEC/ISPO and IMTA.

Free digital access to the report is limited to its contributors and the supporters of its crowdfunding campaign. Hard copies of the report can be purchased online through the website of the author – www.vanat.ch