Every year thousands of avid skiers and snowboarders travel to the best ski resorts Australia has to offer to experience the magic of fluffy white snow. But the harsh impact of COVID-19 has been felt by all who love the sub-zero temperatures and the sound of snow crunching under their boots.
When Australian borders and businesses closed because of COVID-19, resorts did too, much to the dismay of permanent residents and business owners on the mountains. For many people, the ski industry is merely a luxury, but for the thousands of people who work in the industry, it is their livelihood.
Mt Buller PR and Communications Consultant Rhylla Morgan told me just how important the industry was. “The alpine industry in Victoria is responsible for the equivalent of around 10,000 full-time jobs and contributes $1.1 billion for the economy – all of which was largely stopped last year.”
Across all states and territories, the Australian ski industry contributes over two billion dollars annually to the national economy as Australians make 2.5 million trips to Australian resorts each year. Resorts were already on the back foot and looking to bounce back before COVID-19 after the NSW and Victorian alpine regions were ravaged by raging bushfires.
Australian Ski Areas Association CEO Colin Hackworth told me, “for a lot of resort operators, their last income period was the winter of 2019, and then, of course, you have no income for 2020, so for a lot of people, it’s almost two years to see any sort of income.”
But resorts weren’t the only part of the community that suffered at the expense of back-to-back catastrophes. Ms Morgan told me, “the winter was critical for the survival of so many tourism-related businesses”.
Ms Morgan says the 2019 summer bushfires and the global pandemic has brought an end to businesses on the mountain and ultimately forced people to leave and seek other work, leaving people devastated. Ms Morgan recalls the beginning of the pandemic when the first few cases of COVID-19 were popping up around the world and then later in Australia. She says watching the pandemic unfold was like “watching a slow-motion tsunami.”
“I remember personally thinking back in February that by June the threat might have passed, and then quickly realised how wrong I was,” Ms Morgan said. Like most people, residents and workers in the resorts held onto hope that there would be something, they could salvage from the season.
Ms Morgan says massive early snowfalls made it hard not to be optimistic that the season could have gone ahead in some way, shape or form. This hope paid off as skiers and snowboarders rejoiced when Mt Buller finally started running their lifts on June 24.
Ms Morgan credited Mt Buller being able to open to the people working tirelessly behind the scenes. Ms Morgan told me, “a huge amount of logistics and COVID planning dominated all our activities last year, starting back in February and continued through the winter as we adapted to the changing guidelines and did all we could to provide an opportunity for guests and operators to maintain some operations, safely.”
Unfortunately, the fun in the snow was brought to an end quickly, melting like a snowflake in the palm of your hand. The season was brought to an abrupt end on August 4 as stage four restrictions were introduced, forcing the resort to close and lifts to stop running.
Ms Morgan described the mix of devastation, peace and calm felt by the people on the mountain as the resort closed for the season. “It was devastating seeing Mt Buller deep in around one metre of powder in late August and no one able to travel up to the mountain to experience it.”
“The locals and residents will never forget the magic of that week when the snow was superb, and the resort was so peaceful and quiet – but it felt very strange to be enjoying the snow while so many Victorians were unable to leave their homes, people were dying from the virus, and the economy was devastated by the shutdown,” Ms Morgan said.
Ski tourism-related businesses away from resorts also felt the brunt of the pandemic. Mint Tours Founder Jarred Dowson, whose business takes tour groups on backcountry snowboarding trips in Japan, Canada, the United States and New Zealand, says their business has become very limited in how they can operate.
Mr Dowson told me government support and engagement with travel industry bodies helped get by during a tough period of 2020. But he says, “at the end of the day, it helps pay wages and gives you a little bit more breathing space but ultimately as a business and a business owner, you want to have the ability to get back to doing what you do and selling tours and selling snowboard dreams and travel.”
His voice was dispirited; Mr Dowson told me how it is tough to pivot in the travel industry. “The travel businesses just haven’t been able to be as nimble or pivot to any other products.” But Mr Dowson said Mint Tours had a bit more flexibility than other travel and ski-related businesses but was still left frustrated by lockdowns caused by COVID-19.
“We started offering some mountain biking products and some women’s surf retreats and a lot of other little things like that we could do differently while we couldn’t travel overseas,” Mr Dowson told me. Mint Tours faced hardship despite pivoting their product in 2020 as surf retreats, and mountain biking trips were cancelled due to even more COVID-19 lockdowns.
“We had to cancel a mountain biking trip to Bright because no one could get there, of course, once the state borders came down.”
“We were able to pull off a couple of mountain biking trips and a couple of surf retreats, but from a travel perspective, there’s just no way in the world that’s replacing any of the revenue that we missed because of the lockdown,” Mr Dowson told me. Mr Dowson says rather than going into hibernation and waiting for the pandemic out. Mint Tours operated with more of a community focus.
“The mountain biking and surf retreats were more just to engage with people, so we’d still have content to share on social media, so we’re still looking like we’re still doing something you know rather than just hiding under the doona and resurfacing once everything comes back,” Mr Dowson told me.
After a long 2020, there appears to be a light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Restrictions eased at the end of October 2020, which allowed resorts to operate during the summer for mountain biking – providing a glimpse of what people could expect for the 2021 snow season.
Early June snowfalls in NSW and Victoria have also given skiers and snowboarders a reason to be optimistic and excited for the upcoming season. Mr Dowson told me he’s also optimistic about the upcoming season as Mint Tours have shifted their focus to tours in New Zealand. “We weren’t expecting a travel bubble with New Zealand to be announced this early, so I thought we’d be lucky if it comes on by winter, but it’s been great timing really in terms of people getting their leave approved and booking some flights,” Mr Dowson said.
But Mr Dowson says they’ve been cautious not to put all their eggs in one basket. “We’ve sold it out, and we’ve got another one where we’ve partnered with Nitro Snowboards for a good times camp up at Falls Creek at the end of July, so we’re definitely hedging our bets in terms of having some domestic products and an overseas one,” Mr Dowson told me with optimism in his voice.
If there’s one thing people in the ski industry can agree on, it’s that the industry will bounce back. “I think it’s going to bounce back big time. Aussies love to travel; they love Japan. I think if you’re a skier or snowboarder, you don’t really give a shit about going to check out regional Australia; you really want to go overseas and get in the pow. I think as soon as Japan’s on, it’s happening; there’s a lot of pent-up demand for sure,” Mr Dowson told me.
“The resorts have been resilient, and they’re going to bounce back bigger and better than ever,” Mr Hackworth said. While resorts are looking to bounce back, Victorian resorts might be forced to bide their time as they experience déjà vu with new lockdowns commencing in 2021.
“Obviously, everybody’s nervously looking at COVID restrictions in Victoria. NSW doesn’t seem to be impacted at this point, and fingers crossed they won’t be impacted at this point. But Victoria is watching nervously,” Mr Hackworth told me.
(Featured Image: Snowmachine making snow at the Mt Buller Village. Andrew Railton)
