Scottish Ski Centres Get £5.5m Investment

Sat, 7 Feb 2015 10:00:34 GMT

Four of Scotland ski centres are to spend GBP5.5 million on upgrades. Glencoe and Glenshee will upgrade chairlifts, whilst The Lecht and Nevis Range will upgrade drag lifts. It is unclear as yet if the replacement lifts will be brand new or better second hand lifts than those they replace.

The new cash follows a similar investment announced last June for Cairngorm, of around GBP6m. In both cases the vast majority of the money - more than 80% in Cairngorm's case and 75% for the other four centres - comes from public funds, particularly Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. The ski centres also benefitted from a VAT rate cut on lift ticket sales announced in the budget, allowing them to keep more of the money raised from ticket sales.

The new chairlifts will cost approximately GBP2.5m at Glenshee and GBP1.9m at Glencoe taking up the bulk of the spend. The drag lift upgrades at Nevis Range will cost just over GBP700k, at The Lecht, GBP456,000. The investment at Cairngorm over the next five years is largely on buildings and other infrastructure, but their 14-15 news press release hinted at some lift upgrades this coming summer for winter 15-16, although when asked for details by J2Ski operator Natural Retreats did not respond.

Last season in Scotland around 235,000 skier days were recorded in Scotland, a fraction of the numbers during the heyday of skiing in the country in the 1970s and early 1980s but still a major contributor to the regional economy, according to Scottish government ministers.

Re:Scottish Ski Centres Get £5.5m Investment

Sat, 7 Feb 2015 15:54:55 GMT

Hope they save some for road clearance so you can actually get to the resorts.

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Scottish Ski Centres Get £5.5m Investment

Re:Scottish Ski Centres Get £5.5m Investment