Skip to main content Buy your ski passes now
SeeCourchevel

France Comes out on Top as the No.1 Ski Destination in the World

Despite the bad conditions last winter France was still the most popular place to ski in the world

featured in News & reviews Author Ellie Mahoney, Courchevel Editor Updated

We all know the beginning of last winter was pretty awful in terms of snow coverage and the season that followed wasn't the greatest, however this didn't stop the sale of ski passes and France has come out on top as the most popular place to ski in the world.

The stats are based on the number of ski days sold, and for France last years figures were 53.9 million, that's despite the relatively poor conditions and Easter coming later than normal. In close second came the USA resorts with 53.6 million and Austria in third place with 51.8 million.

The Northern Alps resorts maintained a steady level of attendance versus previous years, whilst the Southern Alps suffered a decline of around 11% based on the previous 4 winters.

The Pyrenees and Massif Central resorts showed that largest growth of 10%+, and it seems that a lot of the smaller resorts seemed to do incredibly well compared to the medium and large size resorts.

If the weather forecasters are to be believed, and El Nino does bring us the mother of all winters this season, then we could see France remaining in the top spot again next year. Fingers crossed!