Ski Manufacturers Try to Lift Revenue at New Resorts

ATHENS — Ah, Greece. The beaches. The Parthenon. The skiing. The skiing?

Yes, the skiing.

All winter long and into the spring, fashionable Athenians and other well-to-do Greeks traversed the snow-covered Mount Parnassos, as they discovered skiing in their own backyard. The Greek government made this possible, developing ski resorts to diversify the nation’s summer-oriented tourism trade. There are now 15 Greek ski resorts in all.

Greece is one of a growing number of countries trying to shed its image as an unlikely ski destination. It’s joined by South Africa, Australia and South Korea.

While the international skiing set isn’t yet flocking to these newer, locally oriented destinations, ski equipment manufacturers are. None of these countries by itself amounts to a hill of beans for makers of skis, ski resort equipment, and apparel; but collectively they represent a growing market for an industry that has seen growth at established resorts slow to a glacial pace.

“Places like Colorado and the Alps make up about 80% of our market and they’re pretty much saturated now,” said Bernard Choukroun, commercial engineer for Poma Galski, the world’s biggest ski-lift manufacturer, based in Grenoble, France. “So we have to be on the lookout for new opportunities in unexplored places. And if we’re lucky, we’ll find a country like Japan where we can build 200 new lifts a year.”

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Among the companies to have staked out Greece and other off-the-beaten path ski locales are Poma, Skis Rossignol SA, the industry leader in making skis, based in Voiron, France, and Salomon SA, based in Annecy, France.

Choukroun helped convince the Greek Ministry of Tourism to invest in Parnassos 20 years ago. Poma has since supplied the mountain with its 14 lifts.

“We intervene when a project offers possibilities of success [and] overlook people’s prejudices about a place,” Choukroun said. “Even if a country is only famous for its seafront, if we see a ski-resort potential, we try to go for it before our competitors do.”

Skis Rossignol, with 32% of the market, sold just 2,500 ski pairs in Greece this season, or 0.2% of its production. “Greece is really small business for us,” said Jean-Jacques Bompard, secretary general of Skis Rossignol. “But as industry leaders, we still want to be present in every single market in the world, whether it be in a two-slope resort in South Africa or in [the Greek island of] Crete.”

So eager are equipment manufacturers to expand their business, they would sell ski gear to desert dwellers if they could. Choukroun said places like Lebanon and Iran could have the best ski resorts in the world if political conditions permitted.

Mount Parnassos, a 2 1/2-hour drive northwest from Athens, the Greek capital, is about 2,200 meters (7,250 feet) above sea level. When there’s snow on the slopes, the mountain vibrates with activity.

All the status symbols common at better-known resorts such as Vail, Colo., are in place at the ski lodge: BMWs in the parking lot, North Face ski suits, and Rossignol skis in tow. One difference, though: From the top of the Mount Parnassos ski lift, the Mediterranean Sea appears like a mirage in the distance.

“Now that Greeks have realized they can ski in their own country, it’s like a revelation for them,” said Plastiras Euthemios, manager of the Mount Parnassos ski resort. “They want more and more of it.”

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The Ministry of Tourism financed the 30-billion drachma ($110 million) investment to open Mount Parnassos, and in 1993, a European Union program to promote the economic development of its weaker members paid for the resort’s first four-seat lift.

During the Greek ski season, which can stretch from mid-December into May, Parnassos attracts an average of 5,000 skiers a day on weekends, 500 a day during the week, or about 130,000 skiers a year. The mountain has 20 slopes of all levels of difficulty, 14 lifts, and a day-care center. It employs 120 people in the winter and 50 in the summer for maintenance.

The government’s Greek Organization of Tourism, or EOT, plans to build two additional lifts at the resort next year for $7.4 million, financed by the European Union.

Greece began developing Mount Parnassos in 1976, almost a century after many other European resorts got started. All 15 Greek ski resorts are state-owned and run by EOT. Financially, Parnassos breaks even with $3.38 million in annual revenue. (A daily ski pass costs the equivalent of $26, which is about average for other small European resorts.)