Snow machines will not save French ski resorts, report finds
French ski resorts have been warned that they cannot rely on snow machines and must do more to adapt to climate change.
French mountain officials have been left frustrated since the beginning of January because of the lack of snowfall.
A report by France’s Cour des Comptes (French Court of Auditors), which assessed the measures resorts are using to adjust to changing weather patterns, concluded that most have their head in the sand.
France is the world’s second-largest ski destination behind the United States, with 320 winter sports resorts. But “weakened by the lack of snow and the erosion of their skiing clientele, more and more resorts are already no longer able to break even”, the report found.
Snow cannons provide “relative and transitory protection”, warn the auditors, adding that: “Investments are too often uncorrelated with climate forecasts, and the impact of snow production on water resources appears to be underestimated in many areas.”
Resorts are also taking far too long to diversify by promoting other mountain attractions adequately, it adds, instead simply “reproducing the skiing model with major investments” and leaving “little place for creating alternatives”.
The report also points to the fact that French taxpayers are footing the bill for 23 per cent of the turnover of ski lift operators in small and medium-sized resorts, through state subsidies.
This “poses a problem”, according to the court, which points out that outside France “ski lifts are in the private sector”.
In a written response to the audit, Carole Delga, president of the Régions de France, acknowledged that “viable economic models will have to be overhauled in the next 10 to 15 years, particularly for resorts at altitudes of less than 2,000m”.
‘All resorts affected’ by scant snow cover
The “wise men” of the court inspected 42 resorts in the Alps, Pyrenees, Massif Central and Jura, and found that by 2050 “all resorts will be more or less affected” by scant snow cover.
Chapter headings of the report include: “The French ski business model is running out of steam”; “Adaptation policies fall short of what is needed”; and “Natural resources need to be better preserved”.
Ski officials expressed anger at the findings, with Alexandre Maulin, chairman of the Domaines Skiables de France, dismissing the report as “crude”.
‘Confidence in the future’
“While there are indeed mountain resorts where climate change is worsening the situation to the point of casting a shadow over their short- or medium-term future, there are many whose markets, financial health, snow prospects and strategies give them confidence in the future”, Le Parisien cites him as saying.
The financial stakes are colossal. The industry represents annual sales of more than €11 billion (£9 billion) and supports a network of local businesses that employ 120,000 people.
According to a study by French researchers published last summer in the journal Nature Climate Change, under a scenario in which temperatures rise by 4C by 2050, compared with the pre-industrial era, almost all European ski resorts will not be able to continue operating as they do today – even with artificial snow.
