 |
|
How
Was It For You Yuzawa
2004/2005 Season |
|
October 23rd, 2004.
The temperatures were dropping, resorts and hotels (and Snow Japan) were
busy preparing for the first snow of the season and looking forward to a good
winter season.
Then it happened... a magnitude 6.8 earthquake in the Chuetsu region of
Niigata to the north of Yuzawa town around Ojiya and Nagaoka city. Within one
hour there had been three extremely powerful earthquakes and multiple strong
aftershocks. While the towns and villages around Nagaoka were by far the worst
hit, Yuzawa (which is about 50km to the south of the epicenter of the quake)
also got a strong shaking and hotels and buildings had to be evacuated. It
turned out to be one very long night for many people - and a long month as
countless aftershocks hit the region.
Of course, if the quake had hit in the middle of winter when there are
meters of snow in the towns and on the hills, things could have been
much worse than they were. (But even now, 9 months later, there are still many
people - including some of our friends - whose houses were destroyed by the
quake and have not been able to return. We wish all of those people all the
very best.)
Considering what happened at the end of October, things actually weren’t too
bad for Yuzawa in the 2004/2005 winter season - and better than most people
predicted. While numbers were down at all of the
snow resorts in the town, those numbers were higher than predicted at the
beginning of the season when there was a worry that nobody would come to
Niigata to ski or snowboard because of the quake.
One of the reasons why the numbers held was due to the large amount of snow
that fell in the region - the most for 19 years. There was a week in
early February when the snow never seemed to stop falling...
Anyway, below are all the numbers for the biggest resorts in Yuzawa town.
|
|
Resort |
Number of Guests during the 04/05 Season |
04/05 Season Numbers Compared with 03/04 Season |
|
NAEBA |
1,976,200 |
90.8% |
|
KAGURA
MITSUMATA |
303,700 |
94.3% |
|
KAGURA
TASHIRO |
84,000 |
91.1% |
|
IWAPPARA |
432,580 |
92.6% |
|
GALA
YUZAWA |
261,960 |
92.4% |
|
PINE RIDGE KANDATSU |
134,630 |
96.7% |
|
NASPA
SKI GARDEN |
98,580 |
87.5% |
|
YUZAWA
KOGEN |
75,150 |
80.9% |
|
YUZAWA
PARK |
93,600 |
93.7% |
|
YUZAWA
NAKAZATO |
214,500 |
87.8% |
|
The main numbers
above indicate the total number of guests at each
resort during the season, while the percentages indicate the change
compared to the previous season |
|
YUZAWA
TOWN
Total Number of Skiers and Snowboarders
(Official data, NOVEMBER 04 - MAY 05)
|
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 |
| '02/'03 |
38,500 |
716,350 |
1,363,450 |
1,315,560 |
1,195,919 |
193,580 |
42,670 |
|
'03/'04 |
10,500 |
568,250 |
1,253,470 |
1,242,960 |
996,540 |
157,460 |
49,650 |
|
'04/'05 |
7,100 |
359,760 |
1,143,840 |
1,087,110 |
1,031,570 |
187,720 |
66,920 |
|
Season
|
TOTAL NUMBER
OF GUESTS
|
MONTHLY
ANALYSIS
|
YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 03/04
|
YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 95/96
|
|
'95/'96
|
7,358,000
|
November
|
359.8%
|
27.3% |
|
'96/'97
|
6,674,800
|
December
|
110.0%
|
40.7% |
|
'97/'98
|
6,117,100
|
January
|
97.1%
|
55.4% |
|
'98/'99
|
5,887,560
|
February
|
89.7%
|
52.7% |
|
'99/'00
|
5,671,540
|
March
|
92.2%
|
54.4% |
|
'00/'01
|
5,172,260
|
April
|
93.1%
|
53.1% |
|
'01/'02
|
5,076,140
|
May
|
112.9%
|
94.5% |
|
'02/'03
|
4,868,020
|
SEASON
|
90.8%
|
52.8% |
|
'03/'04 |
4,278,830 |
|
'04/'05 |
3,884,020 |
Individual Resorts
NAEBA RESORT
(resort
page on Snow Japan here)
|
NAEBA
RESORT
|
|
Month
|
Oct
|
Nov
|
Dec
|
Jan
|
Feb
|
Mar
|
Apr
|
May
|
|
Season
|
|
'95/'96
|
|
23,000
|
380,600
|
791,600
|
741,600
|
741,200
|
111,000
|
22,700
|
|
'96/'97
|
4,000
|
26,000
|
438,000
|
727,200
|
645,000
|
684,400
|
75,800
|
9,800
|
|
'97/'98
|
2,400
|
27,000
|
441,000
|
743,400
|
670,000
|
705,700
|
89,000
|
14,300
|
|
'98/'99
|
3,700
|
24,000
|
367,000
|
742,000
|
678,000
|
679,000
|
79,000
|
11,050
|
|
'99/'00
|
|
20,200
|
311,600
|
717,000
|
656,600
|
631,500
|
80,500
|
13180
|
|
'00/'01
|
|
21,500
|
311,600
|
609,500
|
603,800
|
606,400
|
62,000
|
7,900
|
| '01/'02 |
|
7,200 |
339,500 |
641,200 |
621,100 |
660,100 |
55,800 |
10,800 |
| '02/'03
|
|
8,500 |
377,900 |
653,200 |
568,800 |
594,100 |
49,000 |
8,800 |
|
'03/'04
|
|
9,700
|
313,900 |
644,000 |
605,100 |
547,700 |
46,200 |
10,600 |
|
'04/'05
|
|
7,100 |
202,500 |
615,000 |
536,000 |
543,300 |
60,300 |
12,000 |
|
Season
|
TOTAL NUMBER
OF GUESTS
|
MONTHLY
ANALYSIS
|
YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 03/04
|
YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 95/96
|
|
'95/'96
|
2,811,700
|
November
|
73.2%
|
30.9%
|
|
'96/'97
|
2,610,200
|
December
|
64.5%
|
53.2%
|
|
'97/'98
|
2,692,800
|
January
|
95.5%
|
77.7%
|
|
'98/'99
|
2,583,750
|
February
|
88.6%
|
72.3%
|
|
'99/'00
|
2,430,580
|
March
|
99.2%
|
73.3%
|
|
'00/'01
|
2,222700
|
April
|
130.5%
|
54.3%
|
|
'01/'02
|
2,335,700
|
May
|
113.2%
|
52.9% |
|
'02/'03
|
2,260,300
|
SEASON
|
90.8%
|
70.3%
|
|
'03/'04
|
2,177,200 |
|
'04/'05
|
1,976,200 |
KAGURA MITSUMATA RESORT
(resort
page on Snow Japan here)
|
KAGURA
MITSUMATA RESORT
|
|
Month
|
Oct
|
Nov
|
Dec
|
Jan
|
Feb
|
Mar
|
Apr
|
May
|
|
Season
|
|
'95/'96
|
|
2,500
|
60,000
|
77,000
|
72,000
|
90,000
|
65,000
|
25,000
|
|
'96/'97
|
|
6,200
|
103,000
|
80,000
|
62,000
|
95,000
|
62,000
|
20,000
|
|
'97/'98
|
|
100
|
115,000
|
81,000
|
62,000
|
95,000
|
60,000
|
10,000
|
|
'98/'99
|
|
4,000
|
90,000
|
50,000
|
46,000
|
68,000
|
55,000
|
25,000
|
|
'99/'00
|
|
3,500
|
80,000
|
80,000
|
62,000
|
75,000
|
60,000
|
27,000
|
|
'00/'01
|
|
3,000
|
98,000
|
60,000
|
57,000
|
69,000
|
60,000
|
28,000
|
|
'01/'02
|
|
3,500 |
67,000 |
59,000 |
55,000 |
78,500 |
55,000 |
19,000 |
|
'02/'03
|
|
30,000 |
85,000 |
57,000 |
52,000 |
72,500 |
53,000 |
22,800 |
|
'03/'04
|
|
800 |
61,400 |
62,000 |
53,500 |
62,000 |
56,500 |
26,000 |
|
'04/'05
|
|
|
56,400 |
51,500 |
43,300 |
59,000 |
57,500 |
36,000 |
|
Season
|
TOTAL NUMBER
OF GUESTS
|
MONTHLY
ANALYSIS
|
YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 03/04
|
YEAR ON YEAR
COMPARISON
04/05 compared
to 95/96
|
|
'95/'96
|
391,500
|
November
|
n/a |
-- |
|
'96/'97
|
428,200
|
December
|
91.9%
|
94.0%
|
|
'97/'98
|
423,100
|
January
|
83.1%
|
66.9%
|
|
'98/'99
|
338,000
|
February
|
80.9%
|
60.1%
|
|
'99/'00
|
387,500
|
March
|
95.2%
|
65.6%
|
|
'00/'01
|
375,000
|
April
|
101.8%
|
88.5%
|
|
'01/'02
|
337,000
|
May
|
138.5%
|
144.0%
|
|
'02/'03
|
373,300
|
SEASON
|
94.3% |
77.6% |
|
'03/'04
|
322,200 |
|
'04/'05
|
303,700 |
KAGURA TASHIRO RESORT
(resort
page on Snow Japan here)
|
KAGURA
TASHIRO RESORT
|
|
Month
|
Oct
|
Nov
|
Dec
|
Jan
|
Feb
|
Mar
|
Apr
|
May
|
|
Season
|
|
'95/'96
|
|
|
14,000
|
24,000
|
21,000
|
23,000
|
20,000
|
8,100
|
|
'96/'97
|
|
|
32,000
|
25,000
|
20,000
|
30,000
|
21,000
|
8,600
|
|
'97/'98
|
|
|
32,000
|
26,500
|
20,000
|
30,000
|
24,000
|
|
|
'98/'99
|
|
|
22,000
|
17,000
|
16,000
|
24,000
|
21,000
|
9,000
|
|
'99/'00
|
|
|
20,000
|
25,000
|
20,000
|
21,000
|
17,000
|
10,500
|
|
'00/'01
|
|
|
| |
