COVID-19: Impact on the professional mountaineering community, by employment status

This statistic presents the results of a study on the financial implication of COVID-19 containment measures on members of the United Kingdom's (UK's) four main mountaineering associations, illustrating the mean loss of income anticipated as a percentage of the expected income taken as the income received in the 2018/2019 tax year.

Given the scenario of major disruption between the 14th of March and 14th of August 2020 to the non-essential work that members of these four associations carry out, the worst affected individuals are owners of limited companies who are also self-employed; who see a 74 percent loss of earnings, and the self-employed, who see a 66 percent loss of earnings.

The anticipated period of disruption is important due to the seasonal nature of many professions within the outdoor industry. As the summer period is often busier for professional mountaineers and may account for more than half of their potential “working year”.