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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the sensitivity of ski businesses and of the accommodation sector in Tyrol to warm winter seasons and to draw conclusions for climate change vulnerability.

Operational indicators of ski areas and overnight stays in the destinations were analysed in the record warm winter season 2006/2007. Comparing the climatic anomalies of that season with climate change scenarios, the season can serve as an analogue year for average future winter seasons. By interpreting changes in the analogue year, the potential vulnerability of the winter tourism industry in the study area can be assessed.

While the impact on ski areas was relatively small on the province level, the analysis on the basis of individual businesses showed a high sensitivity of small to medium and low‐altitude ski areas as well as of ski areas with insufficient snowmaking facilities. Significant differences in the impact on the accommodation sector were found on the district level, with longer‐lasting negative effects on the regional tourism economy in two districts with low‐altitude ski areas. Climate change increases the risk of financial losses for individual ski businesses as well as for tourism‐dependent regional economies, as happened in the 2006/2007 season. As the season represents an extreme event, the long‐term effect of a rising frequency of warm winters on demand cannot be assessed.

The paper presents a valuable and inexpensive approach to assess the impact of warm winter seasons on the supply side as well as on the demand side.

This paper aims to examine the impact of global warming and climate change on skiing by assessing the costs that ski resorts would have to bear to address the lack of snow. In this way, new development models can be hypothesized for the regional economy in the Aosta Valley, territory located in the West Alps, whose economy is largely based on winter tourism.

Starting with a literature review regarding global warming and its effects on the Alps, a methodology of analysis has been implemented to assess the relative weaknesses of ski resorts. Additional costs in adaptation strategies have been considered in the light of a major choice ski resorts must face: investing or not. For this analysis, four scenarios of global warming have been taken into consideration.

The lack of snow due to a rise in temperatures will have a big impact on regional ski resorts and will seriously threaten the economy of small lateral valleys. In this scenario, it is important to think about reorganizing the regional ski supply by focusing on stations with better economic results and those strategically well located. In this way, we can safeguard winter tourism in the region and preserve skiing by concentrating costs only in those resorts that are also able to bear new cost adaptation strategies.

The value of this paper is its estimation of the future impact of a rise in the average temperature in regional ski resorts. This impact is assessed in relation to concerns about the reduction of the skiing area and the new costs that ski companies will need to bear. The paper also proposes a new model for the reorganization of the ski supply in the Aosta Valley.

The aim of this paper is to present the relationship between climate and tourism development data as an example of an emerging winter and ski tourism destination in Slovakia.

The method aims to discover the relationship through snow-reliability and regression analyses and to further implicate the consequences of such established relationship under a changing (warming) climate.

As a result of the research, the authors can predict that a 1 per cent fall in snow depth and visibility would erode the ski demand by 1.2 and 0.12 per cent, respectively, a 1°C rise of the mean temperature, on the other hand, would indicate a 6 per cent loss of skipass sales. The latter finding translates into a further 6.6 to 19.2 per cent loss of sales on account of the anticipated temperature increases for the twenty-first century. The capacity of the resort for the utmost adaptation strategy, snowmaking, is also to deteriorate with the daytime/fulltime annual good quality production range to reduce from 33/45 days to 10-26/14-34 days, according to the emissions-related warming scenarios and in terms of the commonly available current technology.

The results of the study can help the management of ski resorts to adopt strategies for the future development by taking into account the predicted climatic changes.

This study is the first type of study performed in Slovakia and can contribute to the better understanding of the relationship between climate change and the performance of the ski tourism resorts. It also delivers innovation by considering wet-bulb temperature in snow-reliability analyses and also by coining the “climate elasticity” concept.

New Hampshire’s mountains and winter climate support a ski industry that contributes substantially to the state economy. Through more than 70 years of history, this industry has adapted and changed with its host society. The climate itself has changed during this period too, in ways that influenced the ski industry’s development. During the 20th century, New Hampshire’s mean winter temperature warmed about 2.1° C (3.8° F). Much of that change occurred since 1970. The mult‐decadal variations in New Hampshire winters follow global temperature trends. Snowfall exhibits a downward trend, strongest in southern New Hampshire, and also correlates with the North Atlantic Oscillation. Many small ski areas opened during the early years while winters were cold and snowy. As winters warmed, areas in southern or lowelevation locations faced a critical disadvantage. Under pressure from both climate and competition, the number of small ski areas leveled off and then fell steeply after 1970. The number of larger, chairliftoperating ski areas began falling too after 1980. Aprolonged warming period increased the importance of geographic advantages, and also of capital investment in snowmaking, grooming and economic diversification. The consolidation trend continues today. Most of the surviving ski areas are located in the northern mountains. Elsewhere around the state, one can find the remains of “lost” ski areas in places that now rarely have snow suitable for downhill skiing. This case study demonstrates a general approach for conducting integrated empirical research on the human dimensions of climate change.

Different, alternative or complementary strategies have been advanced for the rejuvenation of the ski tourism product, thus favoring its economic and environmental sustainability. This paper aims to provide new suggestions by looking at the determinants of ski lift ticket prices in the Dolomites.

The paper uses a hedonic price model approach, which allows the identification of the relative importance of different attributes on the determination of a product price.

The model shows that a higher level of investment in modern lifts and snowmaking equipment undertaken by the resort pays off in terms of customers’ perceived value-for-money relationship. The same is not true for investments in the enlargement of the skiable surface or the introduction of night skiing options and illuminated slopes. The authors found evidence that non-participatory activities, such as different winter sports and on-slope entertainment, can improve the customer’s perception of resorts’ quality. Finally, reputation plays an important role in determining the customers’ perception of good value-for-money destinations and deals.

With respect to previous works, the research expands the range of attributes possibly impacting ski lift ticket prices. Identifying crucial elements consumers would be willing to pay for allows managers to re-think and adjust their products and prices accordingly, improving the economic sustainability of the ski tourism product.

Arizona Snowbowl, a ski area located in northern Arizona, experienced several years of inadequate snowfall resulting in both operating losses and negative cash flows. The CEO had to decide whether to commit $750,000 for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) related to a proposed $19.77 million snowmaking project that uses reclaimed wastewater. U.S. Forest Service approval was required. Data for this case were obtained from the EIS that the Snowbowl submitted to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). Estimated skier days, revenue levels, capital costs and interest rates are provided to facilitate the decision modeling process. Students are expected to analyze the financial information and decide whether or not undertaking the EIS project is cost effective while taking into account the possibility that the regulatory and legal system might not allow the project to go forward.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the external and internal factors that support or challenge a possible transformation of Arctic Sweden into a major ski destination under a changing climate.

The paper questions future availability of the physical and the human factors that foster ski tourism development in Arctic Sweden and suggests a comparative case study in relation to the already existing large resort-based ski destinations in Arctic Finland.

Preliminary documentary analysis shows that the governmental and the industrial discourses over the past decade have acknowledged a competitive edge for Sweden and its northernmost regions in particular and may even propose a structural shift for ski tourism in the near future agenda. The visualisations based on natural snow projections presented in this paper confirm this comparative advantage but other technical and socioeconomic development factors are further discussed, in relation to Arctic Finland.

Future research agenda is suggested to cover, first, assessment of natural and technical snow reliability of existing and all potential ski areas in Sweden and within its competitive set extending to all the Nordics and the Alps, then, incorporation of adaptive capacities of the suppliers but especially the likely substitution tendencies of the consumers, and finally, evaluation of the overall situation in terms of the regional development needs.

It is apparent that land use conflicts will arise in case of large ski resort-based destination development in Arctic Sweden, especially around the environmentally protected areas, which are not only already important attractions for nature-based tourism but also traditional livelihoods for the Sami.

This is the first paper to discuss a potential regional and structural shift of ski tourism in Sweden.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a first evaluation of the effectiveness of the early bird discount on ski lift tickets by estimating the impact on hotel overnight stays of the Saas-Fee destination.

The difference-in-differences (DID) approach is used to compare winter sport destinations with and without the price reduction before and after the introduction of the price discount. The sample is composed of the 54 largest Swiss winter sport destinations for the seasons 2013/2014 and 2016/2017.

DID estimations show an increase in overnight stays of Swiss residents by 50 per cent as compared to the control group. Quantile regression estimations for the conditional upper part of the overnight stays distribution reveal a lower average treatment effect of 38 per cent. However, DID estimates for total overnight stays (domestic and foreign) are much smaller – about 17 per cent – indicating that the price reductions are not effective in attracting foreign visitors. Results are not sensitive when taking into account a large number of control variables (elevation, size and snow making capacity).

As tourists visiting winter sport destinations are interested in a mix of activities, lift ticket revenues or number of skier days should be used as an alternative outcome measure.

As positive effects on local tourism demand are mainly limited to Swiss tourists, such price strategies should be carefully considered. In the long term, the skiing market will stagnate or even shrink for several reasons (population ageing, climate change and changes in leisure preferences).

This paper provides a first quantitative evaluation of price discounts in tourism research. Knowledge about the discounts and consumers reactions to sales promotions are of great interest to marketing managers in today’s competitive ski market.

The freezing phenomenon of a falling droplet is a frequently encountered phenomenon in various applications, such as spray crystallization, hail formation and artificial snowmaking. Therefore, this paper aims to understand the freezing processes of a falling droplet without and with initial horizontal velocity in a cold space.

The freezing processes of a falling droplet were characterized using a modified enthalpy-based lattice Boltzmann method.

The temperature field, streamlines and freezing process of the falling droplet were investigated and analyzed. The lower part of the droplet was frozen earlier than the upper part. The freezing trend slowed down in the later stage of the freezing process. The droplet shape was related to the initial vertical velocity, nucleation temperature and initial horizontal velocity.

A modified enthalpy-based lattice Boltzmann method is proposed. In the model, the improved pseudo-potential model is used and the radiation is considered. This method was firstly used to simulate the freezing process of a falling droplet. By examining these freezing processes in detail, the freezing trend and the effect factors of droplet deformation and freezing time were obtained, respectively.

In the past year, S‐K‐I Ltd. has snowballed into the largest ski resort company in North America—under the guiding hand of strategist Hank Lunde. As COO and president, however, Lunde not only helps to plan acquisitions—he implements corporate strategy on a day‐to‐day basis.