Traditional ski holidays could be a thing of the past in less than 25 years, with climate changes bringing a dramatic decrease in snow cover at resorts in North America and the Alps, a report warned today.
With rising global temperatures expected to further reduce snowfall in the coming years these resorts could find themselves battling bankruptcy or economic hardship, while the Whistler resort in Canada, with a base station at 675 metres above sea level, could disappear entirely from the skiing map.
Halifax Travel Insurance carried out the research, and the report’s author Professor Bill McGuire, director of the Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre, said Alpine temperatures had increased by 2C since the 1970s.
The research revealed further warming could cause the area's resorts to experience a 30 per cent reduction in snow cover by 2020, rising to a 50 per cent decline by the 2050s.
"Increasing global temperatures by 2030 could have a devastating impact on the winter holiday industry," he said.
"Unless urgent action is taken to combat the effects of climate change, the family skiing holiday could be consigned to the annals of history in less than a quarter of a century," he added.
Mr McGuire also warned that winter sports enthusiasts, lucky enough to afford skiing in the restricted winter resort environments of 2030, might face higher risk from severe weather phenomena, including avalanches and landslides.
The cost of visiting traditional ski resorts could spiral if the current climate change trend continues as extreme weather conditions in places like the Alps will result in insurance policies surging.
However some North American resorts such as Breckenridge, Vail, Aspen and Mammoth could thrive from the global climate changes, and become the premier skiing destinations due to the demise of the Alps .
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