For mountain sports businesses, the winter season which is ending shows a 73% drop in turnover compared to the 2018-2019 season, the last which was not cut short by the pandemic, according to the estimate of the USC, which represents 1,200 mountain businesses and 90% of the ski equipment market.
“The situation is critical for the entire sector”, estimated Virgile Caillet, the general delegate of the Union sport and cycle (USC), which represents a sector hit hard by the cascading consequences of the epidemic. of Covid-19 on the mountain economy, ultra-dependent on alpine skiing.
Especially since this comes “to be combined with the loss of activity of 17% last year, when the first confinement stopped the end of the season in its tracks”, adds Julien Gauthier, vice-president of USC and director the development of the Skiset stores, estimating that “over these two financial years, it is almost a year of turnover that has disappeared”. Faced with this, he estimates that the various state aids received by the stores represent only 5% of the activity.
According to the union, a third of these specialized shops are in “absolute urgency” for their cash flow, in a sector where most of the revenue is made over the four winter months but where the charges extend over the whole of year.
“The solidarity fund is just a joke”
And the outlook is rather bleak. With sluggish activity this winter, ski shops sold very little new or used rental equipment. Consequence: they will therefore hardly place any orders with their suppliers for next season.
A situation that jeopardizes many companies but also communities. Bruno Cercley, the CEO of the Rossignol group, market leader in France, estimated that its sales figures for winter sports equipment in France which were around 60 million euros in 2019 have increased to 26 million in 2020. and only 18 million in 2021.
According to him, with stable fixed costs, “running factories in these conditions is completely impossible” while he received very little aid. “The solidarity fund is just a joke,” he said.
Under these conditions, the Union sport et cycle wishes the extension of the solidarity fund and partial activity until December 2021 for its sector under penalty of having an avalanche of bankruptcies in the months to come.