Where to Ski And Snowboard - Scotland reports bumper ski season

Scotland reports bumper ski season

8th July 2013, by Abi Butcher

Locals were still skiing in the Ciste Gully in the Cairngorms earlier in July

Nearly 300,000 “skier days” were had in Scotland’s ski resorts last season, giving the country one of its best winter seasons on record. Between them, revenue from the five ski centres injected about £30 million into the Scottish economy.

The bumper ski season was one of the longest on record, too, starting in November and finishing in May. Though at the start of this month, locals were still skiing the Ciste Gully in the Cairngorms (find us on Facebook to see the pictures).

Scottish Tourism Minister Fergus Ewing said: “The success of this year’s ski season is very encouraging and a tremendous boost to the industry — it’s fantastic to see visitors from near and far taking advantage of all Scotland’s ski resorts have to offer.

“This year we are celebrating Year of Natural Scotland. The outdoors is the number one reason why people visit Scotland and when it comes to our excellent ski facilities you can understand why.”

A skier day equates to a day trip to a Scottish ski resort – some are repeat visits but others were one-offs. There were 291,000 skier days during the 2012-2013 season, only surpassed by the record-breaking 2009-2010 season that achieved 374,789 skier days.

Visitors spent £5.85m was spent at the five mountain ski areas (CairnGorm Mountain, Glencoe Mountain, Glenshee, The Lecht and Nevis Range) and more than £23.42m was spent in local accommodation, places to eat and drink, shops and filling stations.