 |
|
How
Was It For You Yuzawa
2001/2002 Season |
Ever wondered just how many people hit the slopes in a season
here in Japan?
|
Even though total numbers generally continue on a slow
downward trend, taking a quick look at the numbers reconfirms just how big a
business the winter sports industry is in Japan.
Over the coming hot and sweaty summer weeks we will be taking a
closer look at some of the statistics that came in from prefectures, towns and
individual snow resorts last season and try to make some sense out of them.
We thank the towns and prefectures involved for their cooperation in providing
us with this information.
In this first installment, we will take a look at the general
numbers from one of the prefectures with the most snow resorts, Niigata
Prefecture, along with general numbers from one of the more popular snow resort
towns (and Ski Japan Guide's base) - Yuzawa Town. In future features we
will take a closer look at some of the resorts in the town and other regions.
Niigata
Prefecture - 01/02 Season
|
|
Dec |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
TOTAL |
|
'00/'01 |
1,165,269 |
2,777,980 |
3,108,581 |
2,340,848 |
9,392,678 |
|
'01/'02 |
1,213,108 |
2,781,540 |
2,977,831 |
2,214,043 |
9,186,522 |
|
Change
on year |
104.1% |
100.1% |
95.8% |
94.6% |
97.8% |
Just take a look at those numbers....
over 9 million people hitting the slopes of Niigata Prefecture over the
2001/2002 season! The way the numbers compare with the previous season
seem to reflect the weather conditions we experienced - a good cold start in
December with higher numbers than the previous year, and a warm end to the
season with numbers for March down over 5%.
|
Total |
Skiers |
Snowboarders |
|
9,186,522 |
5,267,630 |
3,918,892 |
|
100% |
57.3% |
42.7% |
A closer look shows us that of the 9,186,522, snowboarders
represented nearly 43% of that number. We'll be taking a closer look at
the skier/snowboarder ratio and how it has shifted at various resorts in a
future feature.
Yuzawa Town -
01/02 Season
(See
here for Yuzawa statistics from the previous season)
Yuzawa is arguably the most
popular winter sports region of Niigata Prefecture, with 19 resorts and some of
the biggest in the country including Naeba. Following on from our
previous articles from the last two seasons, let's take a look at how the last
season went for the town and it's resorts...
|
YUZAWA TOWN RESORTS AS A
WHOLE
(includes data from all 19 resorts in the town)
|
|
Month
|
Nov
|
Dec
|
Jan
|
Feb
|
Mar
|
Apr
|
May
|
|
Season
|
|
'95/'96
|
26,000
|
884,800
|
2,064,000
|
2,063,400
|
1,895,600
|
353,400
|
70,800
|
|
'96/'97
|
32,200
|
902,100
|
1,777,000
|
1,893,100
|
1,792,000
|
235,900
|
38,500
|
|
'97/'98
|
27,100
|
718,500
|
1,605,400
|
1,784,500
|
1,678,600
|
276,300
|
24,300
|
|
'98/'99
|
28,000
|
611,790
|
1,695,250
|
1,710,440
|
1,530,630
|
259,540
|
48,210
|
|
'99/'00
|
23,700
|
632,360
|
1,605,580
|
1,663,680
|
1,420,930
|
269,420
|
55,870
|
|
'00/'01
|
24,500
|
648,690
|
1,385,520
|
1,499,450
|
1,305,700
|
254,200
|
54,200
|
|
'01/'02 |
10,700 |
651,430 |
1,404,370 |
1,466,390 |
1,297,560 |
207,890 |
37,800 |
Total Number of Skiers and Snowboarders
|
Season
|
TOTAL NUMBER
OF GUESTS
|
MONTHLY
ANALYSIS
|
YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
2002 compared
to 2001
|
YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
2001 compared
to 1996
|
|
'95/'96
|
7,358,000
|
November
|
43.7%
|
41.2%
|
|
'96/'97
|
6,674,800
|
December
|
100.4%
|
73.6%
|
|
'97/'98
|
6,117,100
|
January
|
101.4%
|
68.0%
|
|
'98/'99
|
5,887,560
|
February
|
97.8%
|
71.1%
|
|
'99/'00
|
5,671,540
|
March
|
99.4%
|
68.5%
|
|
'00/'01
|
5,172,260
|
April
|
81.8%
|
58.8%
|
|
'01/'02
|
5,076,140
|
SEASON
|
99.0%
|
70%
|
So the season was pretty much unchanged for the town compared
to the previous ('00/'01) season. Again, numbers from the months of April
and May were considerably down on previous years, mainly due to the warm
weather conditions at the end of the season.
Different resorts show different trends, but generally the
numbers are fairly steady. Whilst that may sound fine considering the
economic conditions Japan is facing right now, if we compare those numbers to
just 6 seasons ago we can see that there has been a huge 30% drop in overall
numbers since that time.
Skiers and snowboarders
|
Skiers |
55.4% |
|
Snowboarders |
44.6% |
Snowboarders represented 44.6 of the total number of snow
riders coming to Yuzawa last season, representing an increase of 2.4% from the
previous season, and slightly higher than the prefecture as a whole.
In the next feature (link below), we take a look at how many
skiers and snowboarders showed up last season at 10 of the largest resorts in
Yuzawa Town.....
Part
2
Part
3
|
|
