IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/toueco/v21y2015i3p561-580.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Demand for Winter Sports: Empirical Evidence for the Largest French Ski-Lift Operator

Author

Listed:
  • Martin Falk

    (Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO), Arsenal Objekt 20, A-1030 Vienna, Austria)

Abstract

This paper investigates the determinants of long-run winter tourism demand for French ski resorts. The data are based on skier visits to the largest ski-lift operator in the world (Compagnie des Alpes) for the winter seasons 1993/1994 to 2011/2012. Using dynamic panel data models for six ski resorts, the study finds relatively low income and price elasticities in absolute terms, with long-run elasticities of 0.64 and −0.40, respectively. Furthermore, the study finds that snow depth measured at the weather station Col de Porte — located at the medium elevation of 1,325 metres above sea level — is a significant predictor of skier days in the high-elevation ski areas. However, the magnitude of the effect of poor snow years is very small: on average, low-snow winter seasons (such as 1989/1990 or 2006/2007) will lead to a reduction in skier visits of about 2.5%. The results are not sensitive with respect to the measurement and timing of snow depth.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Falk, 2015. "The Demand for Winter Sports: Empirical Evidence for the Largest French Ski-Lift Operator," Tourism Economics, , vol. 21(3), pages 561-580, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:toueco:v:21:y:2015:i:3:p:561-580
    DOI: 10.5367/te.2013.0366
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5367/te.2013.0366
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5367/te.2013.0366?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Camille Gonseth, 2013. "Impact of snow variability on the Swiss winter tourism sector: implications in an era of climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 119(2), pages 307-320, July.
    2. Falk, Martin, 2010. "A dynamic panel data analysis of snow depth and winter tourism," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 912-924.
    3. Tim Taylor & Ramon Arigoni Ortiz, 2009. "Impacts of Climate Change on Domestic Tourism in the UK: A Panel Data Estimation," Tourism Economics, , vol. 15(4), pages 803-812, December.
    4. -, 2009. "The economics of climate change," Sede Subregional de la CEPAL para el Caribe (Estudios e Investigaciones) 38679, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Falk, Martin & Vanat, Laurent, 2016. "Gains from investments in snowmaking facilities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 339-349.
    2. Shoukat Ali & Ramiz Ur Rehman & Muhammad Ishfaq Ahmad & Joe Ueng, 2021. "Does Board Diversity Attract Foreign Institutional Ownership? Insights from the Chinese Equity Market," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-15, October.
    3. Falk, Martin & Hagsten, Eva, 2016. "Importance of early snowfall for Swedish ski resorts: Evidence based on monthly data," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 61-73.
    4. Aurélie Corne & Olga Goncalves & Nicolas Peypoch, 2020. "Evaluating the performance drivers of French ski resorts: A hierarchical approach," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(3), pages 389-405, April.
    5. Iveta Malasevska & Erik Haugom & Gudbrand Lien, 2017. "Modelling and forecasting alpine skier visits," Tourism Economics, , vol. 23(3), pages 669-679, May.
    6. Marius Mayer & O. Cenk Demiroglu & Oguzhan Ozcelebi, 2018. "Microclimatic Volatility and Elasticity of Glacier Skiing Demand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-14, October.
    7. Patricia Aranda-Cuéllar & José María López-Morales & María Jesús Such-Devesa, 2021. "Winter tourism dependence: A cyclical and cointegration analysis. Case study for the Alps," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(7), pages 1540-1560, November.
    8. Juan Luis Nicolau & María Jesús Santa-María, 2017. "Sports results creating tourism value," Tourism Economics, , vol. 23(3), pages 697-701, May.
    9. Martin Falk & Robert Steiger, 2020. "Size facilitates profitable ski lift operations," Tourism Economics, , vol. 26(7), pages 1197-1211, November.
    10. Grigore Vasile Herman & Vasile Grama & Sorin Buhaș & Lavinia Daiana Garai & Tudor Caciora & Alexandra Grecu & Andreea Karina Gruia & Oana Simona Hudea & Daniel Peptenatu, 2021. "The Analysis of the Ski Slopes and the Degree of Economic Dependence Induced by Winter Sports Tourism. The Case of Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-19, December.
    11. Martin Falk & Xiang Lin, 2018. "The declining dependence of ski lift operators on natural snow conditions," Tourism Economics, , vol. 24(6), pages 662-676, September.
    12. Martin Falk & Sigbjorn Landazuri Tveteraas, 2020. "Modelling the wider effects of ski lift investments," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 259-274, July.
    13. Steiger, Robert & Posch, Eva & Tappeiner, Gottfried & Walde, Janette, 2020. "The impact of climate change on demand of ski tourism - a simulation study based on stated preferences," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    14. Ziye Shang & Jian Ming Luo & Anthony Kong, 2022. "Topic Modelling for Ski Resorts: An Analysis of Experience Attributes and Seasonality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-15, March.
    15. Eduard Cristobal-Fransi & Natalia Daries & Antoni Serra-Cantallops & José Ramón-Cardona & Maria Zorzano, 2018. "Ski Tourism and Web Marketing Strategies: The Case of Ski Resorts in France and Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-24, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert Steiger & Eva Posch & Gottfried Tappeiner & Janette Walde, 2020. "Effects of climate change on tourism demand considering individual seasonal preferences," Working Papers 2020-08, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, University of Innsbruck.
    2. Fabio Gaetano Santeramo, 2015. "Research Note: Promoting the International Demand for Agritourism: Empirical Evidence from a Dynamic Panel Data Model," Tourism Economics, , vol. 21(4), pages 907-916, August.
    3. Martin Falk, 2014. "Weather and Tourism Demand in the Summer Months across Austrian provinces," ERSA conference papers ersa14p1149, European Regional Science Association.
    4. Weiying Cai & Hui Di & Xingpeng Liu, 2019. "Estimation of the Spatial Suitability of Winter Tourism Destinations Based on Copula Functions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-18, January.
    5. Iveta Malasevska & Erik Haugom & Gudbrand Lien, 2017. "Modelling and forecasting alpine skier visits," Tourism Economics, , vol. 23(3), pages 669-679, May.
    6. Teresa Guardia Gálvez & Juan Muro Romero & María Jesús Such Devesa, 2014. "Measuring and Analysing Domestic Tourism: The Importance of an Origin and Destination Matrix," Tourism Economics, , vol. 20(3), pages 451-472, June.
    7. Seung Hyun Lee & Jaeyong Lee, 2020. "Does price gouging happen in the lodging industry? Case of Hurricane Florence," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(3), pages 151-161, June.
    8. Aurélie Corne & Olga Goncalves & Nicolas Peypoch, 2020. "Evaluating the performance drivers of French ski resorts: A hierarchical approach," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(3), pages 389-405, April.
    9. Albert Ayorinde Abegunde, 2017. "Local communities’ belief in climate change in a rural region of Sub-Saharan Africa," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1489-1522, August.
    10. Santeramo, Fabio Gaetano, 2014. "Promoting the international demand for agritourism – empirical evidence from a dynamic panel data model," MPRA Paper 59625, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 01 Feb 2014.
    11. Chiang-Ming Chen & Yu-Chen Lin & Eldon Y. Li & Chia-Chang Liu, 2017. "Weather uncertainty effect on tourism demand," Tourism Economics, , vol. 23(2), pages 469-474, March.
    12. Otero-Giráldez, María Soledad & Álvarez-Díaz, Marcos & González-Gómez, Manuel, 2012. "Estimating the long-run effects of socioeconomic and meteorological factors on the domestic tourism demand for Galicia (Spain)," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1301-1308.
    13. Devi Brands & Joris Klingen & Francis Ostermeijer, 2020. "Hands on the Wheel, Eyes on the Phone: the Effect of Smart Phone Usage on Road Safety," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 20-024/VIII, Tinbergen Institute.
    14. Jose I Castillo-Manzano & Mercedes Castro-Nuño & Lourdes Lopez-Valpuesta & à lvaro Zarzoso, 2021. "Quality versus quantity: An assessment of the impact of Michelin-starred restaurants on tourism in Spain," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(5), pages 1166-1174, August.
    15. Tzu-Ming Liu, 2014. "Analysis of the Economic Impact of Meteorological Disasters on Tourism: The Case of Typhoon Morakot's Impact on the Maolin National Scenic Area in Taiwan," Tourism Economics, , vol. 20(1), pages 143-156, February.
    16. Marius Mayer & O. Cenk Demiroglu & Oguzhan Ozcelebi, 2018. "Microclimatic Volatility and Elasticity of Glacier Skiing Demand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-14, October.
    17. Yang, Yang & Liu, Ze-Hua & Qi, Qiuyin, 2014. "Domestic tourism demand of urban and rural residents in China: Does relative income matter?," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 193-202.
    18. Hannes Wallimann, 2022. "A complementary product of a nearby ski lift company," Tourism Economics, , vol. 28(2), pages 418-434, March.
    19. Strand, Jon, 2011. "Carbon offsets with endogenous environmental policy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 371-378, March.
    20. Bosetti, Valentina & Carraro, Carlo & Duval, Romain & Tavoni, Massimo, 2011. "What should we expect from innovation? A model-based assessment of the environmental and mitigation cost implications of climate-related R&D," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1313-1320.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:toueco:v:21:y:2015:i:3:p:561-580. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.