Scotland's five ski areas are reporting an excellent start to the season, and expect to continue to be busy with English half term visitors until the end of this week.
The 113,578 'skier days' already recorded this winter account for almost £11.5m revenue for local businesses and the snowsports areas, but that figure could more than double in value to the Scottish economy by the end of the season.
Chair of Ski-Scotland, Heather Negus said: "We're already well ahead of last season at the same point, in fact, almost 19% ahead, and also marginally ahead of 2012-13, which was itself a great season. However, we've still a long way to go to equal 2010-11 which was the best in recent years."
But she said "We're delighted with these results, particularly as half term is not finished yet. Last year we had brilliant snow in huge quantities but lost many days to storms. This year, we have good snow, have had some excellent overhead weather, but have still lost a lot of days to storms, and we're still marginally ahead of 2012-13!"
CairnGorm Mountain, Glencoe Mountain, Glenshee, The Lecht and Nevis Range near Fort William report that the staggered half term in Scotland, coupled with good snow and some real "bluebird days", have really benefited them.
Each person who skis or snowboards at a snowsports area on one day is counted as a 'skier day'. Up to Sunday February 15, there was 113,578 skier days across the five areas. By Sunday February 16 last year, there had been 95, 622 skier days and 113,254 up to the same point in 2012-13, a season which proved to be worth almost £30m to the Scottish economy.
Snowsports form a significant part of Scotland's winter tourism economy. It has been calculated that for each £1 spent at a ski area, a further £4 is spent "off the hill" in local businesses such as accommodation, places to eat and drink, shops, filling stations etc.
Using current data Ski-Scotland say the excellent 2012-13 season was worth more than £29.27M to the Scottish economy. Of this, only £5.85m was spent at the ski areas themselves. 2013-14 was slightly less successful, with many days lost to storms and storm damage. Despite that, over 235,000 skiers and snowboarders took to the slopes, worth around £23.7m to the Scottish economy.
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