The cable car and ski lift market - France

1.2 The global ropeway and ski lift market

The global ropeway and ski lift market is largely dependent on ski resort attendance. The global ropeway and ski lift fleet has been gradually declining in recent years, mainly due to the closure of low-lying resorts, which are severely affected by global warming and decreasing snowfall. While the global ropeway and ski lift fleet was estimated at **,*** in ****, it has subsequently shrunk to **,*** lifts today.

evolution of the international ropeway fleet France, **** - ****, number of ski lifts STRMTG - Businesscoot processing

the Alps

the highest density of lifts and cable cars

**% of the world's total,

the highest density of ski areas, with **% of the ski areas

Geographical distribution of the world's ropeway and cable car fleet World, ****/**** season, in % L. Vanat, Annual Report ****

Geographical distribution of the main ski areas World, season ****/****, in % of total L. Vanat, Annual Report ****

1.3 The French market for cable cars and ski lifts

France is the country with the largest number of lifts and cable cars in the world. Today, France has *,*** cable cars and lifts in its territory. As can be seen in the following graph, by comparison, the United States has *,*** cable cars and lifts, Austria *,*** and Switzerland *,*** (***).

Size of the global ropeway and cable car fleet France, ****, number of lifts and cable cars Ski Info

French fleet has shrunk considerably in recent years

**% of the world's fleet

only *,*** by ****

evolution of the French fleet of ski lifts and cable cars France, ****-****, French ski lifts and cable cars STRMTG

1.4 The negative impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the sector

The pandemic context has had a very negative impact on the cable car and ski lift sector. Indeed, the ****/**** season has been truncated since March **** due to government decisions and the choice to close ski resorts. Moreover, in France, the government's decision to close the ski lifts has been extended for the ****/**** season. Thus, the number of ski resorts and de facto the number of ski lifts and cable cars in France has fallen drastically by almost **% for the ****/**** season.

Attendance at French ski resorts France, ****-****, in millions of ski days L. Vanat, **** Annual Report

More globally, the ski seasons are largely affected in Europe. Ski lifts have been closed in Germany and Italy, and are largely restricted in Spain, Switzerland and Austria. The authorities of European countries want to avoid that the resorts become epidemiological outbreaks and prevent a situation comparable to that of **** from happening again. Indeed, during the first wave of COVID in Europe, European tourists in Ischgl (***) helped spread the virus, making the resort the epicenter of a huge chain of contamination in Europe.

2.1 Evolution of the winter tourism market in France

The winter tourism market has had a difficult ****/**** season. Indeed, the epidemic context and the closure of ski areas have led to a **% drop in attendance at ski resorts as we have seen previously. Moreover, this situation is expected to worsen for the ****/**** season, due to the renewal of these measures.

Nevertheless, in the years prior to the COVID-** crisis, ski area operators' revenues rose steadily, driven by the French public's enthusiasm for winter sports and a trend toward increased supply premiumization of the offer. Indeed, the turnover of ski area operators reached *,***.* million euros for the ****/**** season, before dropping by nearly **.*% in the ****/**** season, to just *,***.* million euros, due to COVID-**.

evolution of ski area operators' revenues France, ****-****, in M€ STRMTG

2.2 Investments and renewal rates for ski lifts and cable cars

The amount of investments is down compared to last year. The closure of ski areas in mid-March **** due to the COVID-** pandemic and the lack of snow on certain mountain ranges have led to a decrease in sales for ski area operators, as we have seen previously. In addition, the lack of visibility on the next seasons due to the absence of forecasts on the evolution of the pandemic leads to a postponement of investments. Thus, for the ****/**** season, the total amount of investments in ski lifts and cable cars reached only **.* million euros (***), compared to ***.* million euros for the ****/**** season.

Total investment in new facilities France, ****-**** in M€ (***) STRMTG

In addition to the epidemic context, there are structural factors. Climate change and the scarcity of snow on the summits are leading to the closure of low-altitude ski resorts and a reduction in demand for new lifts and cable cars. Thus, as we can see on the following graph, France has lost an average of ** ski lifts or cable cars per year over the period ****-****. evolution of the number of ski lifts and cable cars* in France France, ****-****, in number STRMTG (***) Figures for ski lift and cable car ...

2.3 Cable cars and lifts in France

The French ropeway fleet is composed of *,*** installations, divided into several categories. The graph below shows the composition of this park. As we can see, ski lifts make up the largest part of this park, with *,*** installations throughout the country. The cable cars constitute **% of this park, with *,*** installations.

French ropeway fleet, by type France, ****, in % of total STRMTG

2.4 The operation of ski lifts and cable cars in France

The operation of ski lifts and cable cars - the traffic - knows strong disparities at the scale of the Hexagon. Indeed, if in **** the total traffic amounted to *** million passengers, the vast majority of this traffic was located within the ski areas of the Northern Alps. This strong disparity reflects the importance of the Northern Alps massifs compared to other mountain massifs in France.

Geographical distribution of annual ski lift and cable car traffic France, ****, in millions of passengers STRMTG

2.5 Sales of ski lifts and cable cars in France

It is interesting to distinguish the two sub-segments relating to the turnover of ski lifts and cable cars in France:

Code **.**C: Cable cars and ropeways, including the operation of cable cars, funicular railways, ropeways, etc., but excluding the operation of funicular railways, cable cars, etc, as part of urban and suburban transport systems Code **.**Z: Including land passenger transport by urban and suburban transport systems using various modes of transport, such as buses, railroads, tramways, trolley-buses, underground or aerial metro systems, etc.

change in lift revenues France, ****-****, in millions of euros (***) INSEE

The graph above shows the variations in the turnover of ski lifts and cable cars in France over the period from **** to ****. Thus these variations over the period allow us to see that the drop in demand from the French precedes the COVID period and is linked to more structural phenomena - in particular the low level of snow in low altitude resorts. Indeed, between **** and ****, ski lift and cable car revenues declined by nearly **% .

3.1 Segmentation and dynamics of actors

The ropeway and ski lift market is a highly concentrated market, with very few major players on a national scale. There are several reasons for this:

Nature of the industry: the design and construction of ropeways and ski lifts is considered to be a heavy industry, requiring significant investments Demand: the demand for new ropeways and lifts is low and responds to a centralized bidding process Seasonality of the market: most of the turnover of ropeway operators is realized during a short period of the year (***) Maintenance needs: the maintenance costs of ski lifts are high and manufacturers compete in this segment to have more recurring revenues

Thus, we can distinguish several actors on this market. The following table lists these players and details some of their characteristics related to their positioning. It is interesting to note that the majority of players, whether they are manufacturers, ski resorts or operators, are specialized players whose activity is not very diversified.

3.2 The wave of concentration affecting ropeway and cable car manufacturers

Cable car and ropeway manufacturers also design and maintain their installations. The global market has very few large-scale players due to the specific features of the market listed above. In addition, given the decline in global demand (***) and the changes affecting the market - extension of these modes of transport to urban areas, internationalization of demand, diversification of activities - the players are trying to regroup in order to reach critical size .

For example, the French company Montagne et Neige Développement (***) formed a close commercial and technical alliance with Bartholet, the Swiss lift manufacturer in February ****. The two groups have decided to offer a common catalog and complete solutions: gondolas, fixed or detachable chairlifts, aerial tramways, funicular railways, inclined elevators or conveyor belts. This pooling will also involve the sales and marketing forces in order to reach a wider customer base. Another example of this market concentration is the fact that the French player Poma and the Italian Leitner, two of the largest manufacturers in the world, belong to the same parent company HTI BV.

3.3 Distribution of ski lift and cable car operators in France

The operators of ski lifts and cable cars in France correspond to several categories of actors. Indeed, it is possible to list the public and semi-public operators, the ski schools as well as the private operators. In France, there are currently *** operators, distributed as follows:

Distribution of operators, by type France, ****, in % of total STRMTG

Ski schools represent the most important part of the operators of these lifts, with **%, followed by other private actors who represent **% of the operators. The public or semi-public actors represent only **% of these operators. The majority of these operators, more precisely *** operators, are grouped within a professional chamber of ski area operators: Domaines Skiables de France (***).

4.1 Typology of ski lifts and cable cars

Ski lifts and cable cars are mainly installed in mountain areas to serve ski areas or sites at high altitude. Ski lifts are designed on the basis of one of the two following techniques:

The vehicle can move on one or more fixed cables: it is then moved by a hauling cable that pulls it up or down. This technique allows the use of large vehicles and the crossing of large spans without having to install regularly spaced pylons The vehicle can also be suspended and pulled by the same cable, which is both a carrier and a tractor: an endless cable is stretched between two pulleys, whose axis is approximately vertical, located at the bottom and top of the slope. One of the two pulleys of the installation is the drive pulley, the other one allows to adjust the tension of the cable. Between the two stations, the rope is supported by special towers or gantries.

Due to the nature of the sector, the size of the finished products and the investment required, most ropeways are only built after an order has been received. Based on these operating principles, ropeway manufacturers offer a full range of equipment generally grouped into ...

4.2 The evolution of the supply of ski lifts and cable cars

The supply of ski lifts and cable cars depends to a large extent on the heavy investments made by the various operators. As a result, in a context of declining investment, the number of new projects in France is tending to decline. This is all the more important concerning new ropeways: no new ropeways have been installed since ****, as we can see on the following graph.

New ropeway installations France, ****-****, number of new installations STRMTG

If more globally we can note a decrease in the offer of all types of devices, the ski lift segment seems to resist better than the other types of lifts offered. This offer is characterized by a lower cost and lower investments.

4.3 Innovation at the heart of the ski lift offer

Given the structural changes mentioned above - low snow levels in low altitude resorts, growth of the urban ropeway segment - and the economic effects of the COVID-** pandemic, it seems increasingly necessary for manufacturers to innovate and renew their offerings.

- The breakthrough of conveyor belts

In contrast to other types of lifts and cable cars, conveyor belts have had an upward trend. In fact, if we look at the distribution of new installations over the same period, i.e. ****-****, we can see that France has seen *** new conveyor belts, which corresponds to **% of the new installations recorded over the period .

New conveyor belt installations France, ****-****, in number of additional installations STRMTG

Indeed, the conveyor belts have the advantage of corresponding to smaller ski resorts and often in low altitiude. In addition, these installations are also characterized by a lower construction cost than cable cars or other heavy infrastructures. - The rise of the urban cable car

Urban cable cars, and more generally urban transport by air, are increasingly seen as an environmentally friendly alternative to other means of urban transport, which can also relieve congestion in a city and enhance its transport offer. In fact, there are ...

5.1 Current regulations

The tourism code and its articles D***-* to R***-** set the rules applicable to ski lifts as well as mountain resort carpets.

This part of the tourism code was amended by decree n°****-** of **/**/**** entering into force on **/**/****.Transitional provisions allow for the possibility of postponing the implementation of certain new requirements, thus giving time to manage the transition in the best possible conditions.

The urban planning code deals with :

authorization files for the execution of work(***) and for the start of operations(***) for these facilities.

The legislative and regulatory provisions presented above and applicable to town planning procedures relating to ski lifts and moving walkways are applicable to all installations.the legislative and regulatory provisions presented above and applicable to urban planning procedures for ski lifts and moving walkways in mountain resorts are set out in an application guide for the attention of the Urban Planning Department (***)

In addition, an order of July **, **** specified the procedures for reporting serious accidents and events affecting the safety of the operation of ski lifts and conveyors.

Special case of ski lifts exclusively used for the transport of personnel:

These installations, also known as service lifts, are not directly covered by ...

5.2 Government assistance: the Mountain Plan

For ski lift operators

Both public and private ski lift operators will benefit from a support fund that will allow them to compensate for **% of fixed costs related to ski lift operations.these costs are set at **% of the turnover, including the security of the ski area. The reference turnover will be calculated on the average of the last * years corresponding to the closure period.

For retailers

All businesses located in ski resorts that have less than ** employees and that justify a loss of turnover of more than **% will be included in the sectors covered by the "tourism plan". Following the Prime Minister's announcement on December **, the list of S*bis sectors will be expanded. It will be set by decree shortly.

As such, eligible businesses will be able to benefit from assistance from the solidarity fund of up to €**,*** andpartial activity with ***% coverage.

The measure will also apply in the communes of the valleys which depend on the stations. These are mountain municipalities that are members of an EPCI that supports a ski resort and do not belong to an urban unit with more than **,*** inhabitants.

6.1 Positioning of ropeway and cable car manufacturers

• Bartholet
• Poma
• MND LST Groupe
• Compagnie des Alpes
• Compagnie du Mont Blanc
• GMM Gimar Montaz Mautino
• Leitner Ropeways (HTI Group)
• Doppelmayr Garaventa
• Tatralift
• CCM Finotello
• Méribel Alpina
• La Compagnie des Pyrénées