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Glencoe Mountain Resort profits from busy winter spell

Chris Tiso CEO of Tiso Group opening new store in Aviemore
See Press Release
Debbie Byers, Beeline PR, 07990 570 220 / debbie@beelinepr.com

Pic Trevor Martin
Chris Tiso CEO of Tiso Group opening new store in Aviemore See Press Release Debbie Byers, Beeline PR, 07990 570 220 / debbie@beelinepr.com Pic Trevor Martin

Andy Meldrum has a big smile on his face. As the owner and managing director of the Glencoe Mountain Resort, he’s enjoying a busy winter.

“It’s been a really good season,” reports Meldrum. “We started ski-ing earlier than ever before, in late November.

“We’ve had great snow pretty much all the way through. If it snows through until May like it usually does then I think we’re on track for a very good season.”

Meldrum’s upbeat assessment is echoed by Chris O’Brien, the commercial manager at Nevis Range. “Already we’ve had more skiers on the mountain than we did for the whole of last winter,” he says.

“That’s before we even hit half-term, so it looks like it’s going to be a very, very good season for us. It’s hard to put your finger on when the season will end because sometimes we’ve had great snow at the start of April.”

Having a busy winter doesn’t just benefit the ski centres themselves, but also gives a boost to companies in the surrounding areas too. Figures from Ski-Scotland – the marketing partnership that promotes snow sports – show that, for every £1 spent at a ski centre, a further £4 is spent “off the hill” on everything from accommodation and food and drink through to fuel from the local filling station.

During a good season – such as the winter of 2014-15 – Scotland’s five ski centres at Cairngorm, Glencoe, Glenshee, The Lecht and Nevis Range can together generate 230,000 “skier days”, or one person who skis or snowboards for a day. Ski-Scotland says that equates to a boost of at least £23million for the local economy.

In a busy season, like the record-breaking winter of 2009-10, that figure can rise to more than 373,000 skier days or a £37.5million cash injection.

Since 2009-10, Scotland has clocked up some 1.8 million skier days, contributing £180million to the economy, although some in the industry believe this to be a conservative estimate. Businesses are showing confidence in the development of the snow sports sector by investing in their infrastructure.

Chris Tiso, chief executive at his family’s eponymous outdoor clothing and equipment retail chain, announced in December that he will open one of his flagship “outdoor experience” branches in Aviemore, creating 30 jobs on the Myrtefield retail park.

“I am proud that Tiso has enjoyed a strong market presence in Aberdeen since 1981, while our footprint north of the central belt has immeasurably developed through the opening of our Inverness outdoor experience in 2006 and Perth outdoor experience in 2010,” says Tiso, who grew up ski-ing in the Cairngorms and is a passionate ambassador for the sport.

Tiso Group, which has 14 outlets in Scotland and the Lake District, also operates under the Blues ski shop and Alpine Bikes brands.

All the talk of a busy season is music to the ears of Malcolm Roughead, chief executive at VisitScotland, the national tourism agency.

“Scotland is beautiful whatever the season but, in the right conditions, we are home to some of the best outdoor ski-ing and snowboarding experiences in the UK,” he says.

“Scotland’s ski centres are a huge draw for local residents and snow sports enthusiasts from across the country and further afield.

“These visitors – whether here for the day or longer – all contribute to the wider visitor economy by staying in hotels, eating in restaurants and shopping in local stores and, for this reason, winter sports remain an important part of the local and national economy, generating millions of pounds per year, creating jobs and sustaining communities.”

Yet when the snow melts and the skis are packed away for another year, Scotland’s mountain resorts don’t simply go to sleep until the next winter. Instead, towns such as Aviemore and Fort William prepare to welcome hillwalkers, mountaineers and other guests looking to experience the countryside.

Diversification has been the name-of-the-game for many ski areas. Lochaber in particular has developed a reputation as a world-class destination for mountain biking, with Fort William due to host the sport’s world cup again in June.

“It’s not just mountain biking – we have several activities that bring an awful lot of people here,” adds O’Brien from Nevis Range. “We have the UK’s only mountain gondola ride – which is a tourist attraction in its own right – and this year we’d anticipate seeing 150,000 people using the gondola.

“In the summer, people use it to go for a walk at the summit and eat in the Pine Marten restaurant, or to walk in Glen Nevis. We also have ‘Tree Adventure’, which is our high-ropes course through the forest, which is incredibly popular with families and corporate days out.

“Before I came here, I was destination manager for the outdoor capital in Fort William, so I’ve got an idea of just how important it is to the economy.

“What’s really great about the diversification of business at Nevis Range is that, while some staff are seasonal, we can maintain a core staff throughout the year, which is vital for the local economy.”

Meldrum at Glencoe agrees. “Without ski areas, a lot of local hotels would just become seasonal hotels and only open in the summer, and that would have the knock-on effect of making it harder to find staff in the summer.”

Broadening the number of activities on offer has also been a key factor in the success of Glencoe. “We’re seeing more tourists because we’re offering accommodation and more activities, such as free sledging,” adds Meldrum.

Wearing his hats as chair of both Ski-Scotland and the Association of Scottish Snowsports Areas (ASSA), Meldrum wants to see further developments in the sector. “We have to keep investing in the resorts,” he argues.

“What we provide at the resorts at the moment is good, but if people go to a high-end resort in the Alps where they have super-fast gondolas and everything’s brand-new then it’s a different experience to Scotland. All the resorts need to invest to make sure we have the latest equipment for hire and that we can offer an experience that is comparable with what people can find in Europe.”

Last month Ski-Scotland was awarded £30,000 from the VisitScotland Growth Fund to encourage skiers from the central belt, Northern Ireland and the north of England to visit the Highlands or the north-east instead of heading overseas. When the slopes open again for the 2018-19 winter, both ski centres and their surrounding communities will be keen to see if the initiative has been a success.

Winter sports remain an important part of the local and national economy, generating millions per year

Resorts need to invest to make sure we can offer experience comparable with Europe