MATSUMOTO, Japan >> As the number of domestic skiers and snowboarders declines significantly, many ski resorts in Japan are having difficulty staying open. A resort’s ability to attract foreign tourists determines its success or failure.

“I come here 60 to 70 times during the winter season. This ski resort has a long history and a wide variety of courses. Its quality of snow is good,” said a 71-year-old resident of Matsumoto, Nagano prefecture, of the Mt. Norikura Snow Resort in Matsumoto.

Located at the foot of the 9,928-foot-tall Mount Norikura in the Northern Japanese Alps, the resort opened in 1961 and is known for its powdery snow. It offers more than 10 courses for all levels.

But this season, the resort was in danger of closing. Visitor numbers from the last winter season shrank to half of what it was about a decade ago, to about 40,000, mainly due to lack of snowfall. In October, Blue Resort Norikura, the Matsumoto-­based company that ran the resort, planned to close its doors.

Concerned local volunteers sought financial support online and within a month raised their goal of 35 million yen (about $234,500) to continue running the resort. Along with crowdfunding, the group raised a total of more than 50 million yen.

They also set up a council to manage the resort, which was able to open this winter.

The resort faced financial difficulties after failing to attract international tourists, according Toshinobu Sato, the general manager of the resort. Of the 40,000 visitors last season, only 1% were foreign tourists.

Ski resorts in Hakuba Village in Nagano, meanwhile, are filled with foreign visitors. The reason: It takes just three hours from Tokyo Station to Hakuba via a bullet train and express bus.

Norikura requires more than four hours of travel via an express train from Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station and a bus transfer. Trains and buses do not run frequently, and there are few area restaurants. The resort tried selling tickets online to draw international visitors, to little effect.

“The popularity of Hakuba and Hokkaido’s Niseko ski resort areas is nothing new,” said Ken Yamaguchi of Norikura’s management council. “They have been working at attracting foreign tourists for more than 20 years.”

It remains uncertain whether Norikura resort will reopen. But Yamaguchi stressed the importance of keeping a ski resort.

“In terms of the region’s value, there is a big difference between having a ski resort and not having one,” Yamaguchi said. “It is important to make sure to draw in people from within and outside the prefecture. In addition, given the declining number of Japanese skiers, it is also necessary to attract foreign tourists. We will consider ways to achieve that with the entire community.”

Numbers down 75%

The number of skiers and snowboarders in Japan declined to 4.6 million in 2023 from 18.6 million in 1993. The drop was attributed to an increase in other leisure activities and the declining birthrate, according to a white paper on leisure issued by the Japan Productivity Center.

An increasing number of resorts are being forced to close due to declining visitor numbers and the expense of maintaining old facilities. Data from the Japan Sports Agency shows that the number of ski resorts in Japan dropped to 449 in 2021 from 1,669 in 1985.