Unlike development in many of
Japan’s smaller ski areas, winter sports’ infrastructure and tourism is on the
rise in Hokkaido, Japan’s most
northerly island. Australia and New
Zealand have traditionally been the strongest ski holiday markets and they
continue to grow year on year. While interest in ski resort investment has
declined from the Aussie market, demand for both ski vacations and also
for investment in ski property in Japan is increasingly coming from Hong Kong
and the Chinese mainland. There are also
significant numbers from other parts of Asia, including Singapore and Malaysia,
as well as growing visitation from Europe and North America.
Since hosting the 1972 Winter Olympics
in Sapporo, Hokkaido’s ski industry has blossomed with dramatic development
over the past
20 years. According to the Japanese National Tourism Organization, there
are around 600 mostly small, locals’ ski resorts dotted all over the
mountainsides of Japan. But, on Hokkaido there are a number of premier resorts,
notably Niseko,
dubbed the ‘Aspen of Asia’.
Greg Hough, Director of Marketing
for the Niseko
Promotion Board, says that Niseko – and Japan in general – is firmly
on the map now as a global ski destination. Although many smaller ski resorts
are suffering due to declining domestic visitation, Niseko is blossoming. “Over
all the domestic ski industry in Japan remains in decline with many ski resorts
having to close each year,” says Hough. “In recent years there has been an increased
awareness of some resorts (including Niseko) because of the inbound
growth and interest from foreign investors. There has been a flood of
general media interest - mainly international - and most of the major ski and
snowboard production companies have been, and are still coming, to Niseko and Japan each year including
Warren Miller, Sweetgrass Productions, Matchstick etc.” This continues to
heighten awareness from the hardcore powder skier perspective.
Around 100 km south of Sapporo, The Niseko
United encompasses four resorts (like Aspen’s
Power of Four) on one mountain, the 1308 meter-high Niseko Annupuri. Renowned
for dry light powder and consistent abundance of snow, the mountain is open for winter sports from late November into
May with slight variations at each resort.
Here, visitor numbers jumped 103 percent over the 2011/12 season,
according to the Niseko Tourism Board, including more overseas visitors than other Japanese ski
areas.
“The Niseko ski area has a 50-plus
year history but the most recent boom started in 2003 and was driven
largely by the Australian market and a
few opportunistic developers,” says Hough who also owns and directs Explore Niseko KK. “Since the
start of this development boom over 7,000 new beds have been developed and an
estimated US$800million has been invested including the sale
and re-purchase of two of the adjoining resorts - Niseko
Village and Hanazono - as well as some infrastructure upgrade projects.” The
key driver up until this point, he adds, has been property
development and although the lift network has seen some
upgrades, for the most part it remains unchanged. Niseko’s primary target markets for
attracting investment are Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.
International awareness of Japan’s
ski industry has been heightened over the years largely by media and social
media. “There has been very limited investment in marketing by
the resort and much of this has been left to the individual
businesses,” says Hough, who has worked in travel and tourism since 1998. “Over
the past 10 years most of our growth has happened organically and we have
relied heavily on word of mouth marketing. The quality of the snow
and a renewed interest in Japan as a ski destination has driven much of the
growth.”
The
Niseko United is an all-season resort with a skiing/snowboarding focus in
winter and golf,
cycling and food in summer. One of the big benefits for Hong Kong visitors
is the small time difference (Niseko
is just one hour ahead of HK) and a four-hour flight – both big pluses compared
with traveling to Europe or North America. Other advantages include a network
of 38 lifts accessing 48km of terrain with a substantial snow record (up to six
or seven meters according to Japanese National Tourism Organization figures) - and the possibility of very light powder
particularly between January and mid-March. Niseko also has many onsens
throughout the area – natural hot springs ideal for après ski soaking – with a
shuttle-bus link to all four base stations. And there are rapidly developing
facilities for other winter activities, including snowshoeing, snowmobiling, heli and catskiing, backcountry tours and a focus on developing other
off mountain infrastructure and retail.
