IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rdv/wpaper/credresearchpaper45.html

The Investment Competition among Swiss Ski Areas

Author

Listed:
  • Pascal Troxler, Marcus Roller, Monika Bandi Tanner

Abstract

In recent years, ski area operators in Switzerland have faced a decreasing demand due to climate change, exchange rate pressure and demographical changes among other factors. At the same time, ski lift and snowmaking capabilities have increased – partly with financial aid from public funds. It is therefore crucial to find out how much ski area investments retain demand and affect the competition for the remaining guests. We link firm-level data from ski areas to natural snowpack data and use Two-Way Fixed Effect (TWFE) estimators to study (i) how ski areas lower their dependency on natural snow by investing in snowmaking facilities, (ii) the effect of ski lift investments on skiing demand and revenue and (iii) the impact of lift investments on the spatial competition between neighboring ski areas. We find that ski areas with above-median snowmaking capabilities lower their dependency on natural snow by two-thirds. Ski lift investments induce a one-time positive average effect of 4.1% on demand and 1.9% on revenue in the winter following the construction. Finally, we document negative effects of ski lift expansions of neighboring areas within a road distance of up to 50 kilometers on demand.

Suggested Citation

  • Pascal Troxler, Marcus Roller, Monika Bandi Tanner, 2023. "The Investment Competition among Swiss Ski Areas," Diskussionsschriften credresearchpaper45, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft - CRED.
    • Handle: RePEc:rdv:wpaper:credresearchpaper45
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://repec.vwiit.ch/cred/CREDResearchPaper45.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kurt Schmidheiny & Sebastian Siegloch, 2023. "On event studies and distributed‐lags in two‐way fixed effects models: Identification, equivalence, and generalization," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(5), pages 695-713, August.
    2. Pascal Troxler, 2023. "The Impact of Weather Forecasts on Ski Demand," Diskussionsschriften credresearchpaper43, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft - CRED.
    3. Kyle Butts, 2021. "Difference-in-Differences Estimation with Spatial Spillovers," Papers 2105.03737, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2023.
    4. Sebastian Siegloch & Nils Wehrhöfer & Tobias Etzel, 2025. "Spillover, Efficiency, and Equity Effects of Regional Firm Subsidies," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 144-180, February.
    5. Sun, Liyang & Abraham, Sarah, 2021. "Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 175-199.
    6. Christian Lohmann & Nils Crasselt, 2012. "Investments in Ski Areas: Effects of Compensation Payments in a Complementary Value Network," Tourism Economics, , vol. 18(2), pages 339-358, April.
    7. Richard G. Walsh & Nicole P. Miller & Lynde O. Gilliam, 1983. "Congestion and Willingness to Pay for Expansion of Skiing Capacity," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 59(2), pages 195-210.
    8. Malasevska, Iveta & Haugom, Erik, 2018. "Optimal prices for alpine ski passes," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 291-302.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Pascal Troxler & Marcus Roller & Monika Bandi Tanner, 2024. "The development of ski areas and its relation to the Alpine economy in Switzerland," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 160(1), pages 1-20, December.
    2. Markus, Philipp, 2023. "Effects of access to universities on education and migration decisions," Ruhr Economic Papers 996, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    3. Cocco, Valentin & Chakir, Raja & Mouysset, Lauriane, 2025. "Guilty or scapegoat? Land consolidation and hedgerow decline," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    4. Maclean, J. Catherine & Pichler, Stefan & Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2020. "Mandated Sick Pay: Coverage, Utilization, and Welfare Effects," IZA Discussion Papers 13132, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Rahi Abouk & Keshar M. Ghimire & Johanna Catherine Maclean & David Powell, 2023. "Pain Management and Work Capacity: Evidence From Workers’ Compensation and Marijuana Legalization," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(3), pages 737-770, June.
    6. Cisneros, Elías & Kis-Katos, Krisztina, 2024. "Unintended environmental consequences of anti-corruption strategies," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    7. Tobias Schlegel & Curdin Pfister & Dietmar Harhoff & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2022. "Innovation effects of universities of applied sciences: an assessment of regional heterogeneity," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 63-118, February.
    8. Britta Rude, 2022. "Can We Grow with our Children? The Effects of a Comprehensive Early Childhood Development Program," ifo Working Paper Series 372, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    9. Damian Clarke & Kathya Tapia-Schythe, 2021. "Implementing the panel event study," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 21(4), pages 853-884, December.
    10. Arne J. Nagengast & Yoto V. Yotov, 2025. "Staggered Difference-in-Differences in Gravity Settings: Revisiting the Effects of Trade Agreements," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 271-296, January.
    11. Fiorini, Mario & Lee, Wooyong & Pfeifer, Gregor, 2024. "A Simple Approach to Staggered Difference-in-Differences in the Presence of Spillovers," IZA Discussion Papers 16868, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Geschwind, Stephan & Roesel, Felix, 2022. "Taxation under direct democracy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 536-554.
    13. Kai Fischer & J. James Reade & W. Benedikt Schmal, 2021. "The Long Shadow of an Infection: COVID-19 and Performance at Work," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2021-17, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    14. Dharmasankar, Sharada & Yoo, Hoyoung, 2023. "Assessing the main and spillover effects of Seattle's minimum wage on establishment decisions," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    15. Andreas Lichter & Max Löffler & Ingo E. Isphording & Thu-Van Nguyen & Felix Poege & Sebastian Siegloch, 2025. "Profit Taxation, R&D Spending, and Innovation," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 432-463, February.
    16. Hoehn-Velasco, Lauren & Jolles, Diana R. & Plemmons, Alicia & Silverio-Murillo, Adan, 2023. "Health outcomes and provider choice under full practice authority for certified nurse-midwives," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    17. Zhu, Junjie & Guo, Hongfeng, 2025. "Does the development of high-speed rail benefit carbon emissions reduction?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    18. Simon Freyaldenhoven & Christian B. Hansen & Jorge Pérez Pérez & Jesse M. Shapiro & Constantino Carreto, 2024. "Policy Effect Estimation and Visualization in Linear Panel Event-Study Designs: Introducing the xtevent Package," Working Papers 2024-09, Banco de México.
    19. Cabrera-Hernández, Francisco & Padilla-Romo, María & Peluffo, Cecilia, 2023. "Full-time schools and educational trajectories: Evidence from high-stakes exams," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    20. repec:bdi:wptemi:mip_052_24 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Zunian Luo, 2022. "Powering Up a Slow Charging Market: How Do Government Subsidies Affect Charging Station Supply?," Papers 2210.14908, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2023.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
    • L88 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Government Policy
    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise
    • Z32 - Other Special Topics - - Tourism Economics - - - Tourism and Development

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:rdv:wpaper:credresearchpaper45. 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: Franz Koelliker (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vwibech.html .

    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.