Coronavirus: in Hokkaido, Japan’s luxury ski resorts say the snow must go on
- The slopes of Niseko, where villas can cost US$28,000 a night, have long been a hit with the rich and famous, from Hong Kong’s jet set to Lady Gaga
- Amid Covid-19, they are all but abandoned. But with culture, cuisine and Japow! – the ‘world’s best powder snow’ – on offer, businesses are confident of bouncing back
Over Christmas 2019 and into the New Year, there was hardly a hotel room, chalet or high-end condominium to be had in the Hokkaido mountain town of Niseko. Restaurants were no longer taking bookings, drinkers spilled out the doors of packed bars – despite the sub-zero temperatures – and everyone looked forward to getting back on the slopes just as soon as the ski lifts started turning in the morning.
Today, a town widely recognised as having the best powder snow in the world – so perfect that they call it “Japow!” – is largely deserted.
A handful of skiers are descending the slopes of 1,308-metre Mt Niseko Annupuri, but there are no long lines waiting for the lifts. Cafes and bars that 15 months ago were doing a roaring lunchtime trade are empty of patrons, and some are in complete darkness. The town’s famed apres-ski nightlife is a shadow of its former self.
Yet the resilience and optimism that the industry is demonstrating, particularly at the luxury end of the market, is remarkable in its own right. In spite of what has been described as the most severe and prolonged global economic downturn in a century, operators say they know the visitors will be back – and they are confident they will return in even bigger numbers than previously.