The World's Skiing Hotspots

The United States has the highest number of skier visits of any single country per season, followed by Austria and France, according to a recent ski tourism report by Laurent Vanat. These three also have the most ski lifts per country, with about 3,000 each. The Alps account for 40 percent of global skier visits and are also the most internationally visited ski destination.

The Covid pandemic greatly impacted the skiing industry, with the year 2020/21 drawing in the lowest numbers of the millennium at only 201.2 million skier visits worldwide. To put this into context, global visitation levels have fluctuated between roughly 350 and 380 million skiers since the year 2000, with the yearly changes attributed partly to weather conditions. A select few countries experienced a silver lining however as travel restrictions abroad helped domestic visitation levels increase, including in Russia and Romania, which according to the report, saw their best seasons in 2020/21 to date.

The following chart shows the number of ski visits per country based on the latest 5-year averages.