The super efficient Niseko powder provided a fantastic open day for this years season kick off.

Niseko properties have been blanketed the past week with around two feet of powder - topped off with sunshine and Yen2000 lifts tickets, many a local were grinning ear to ear.

Niseko accommodation in peak season is looking very close to full in many parts of the village. This season looks set to be a blinder with at least three new bars opening in the top village, two new apartment complexes and a host of new guest services.

AUSTRALIA: - 37%

• The Australian market suffered more than most last year due to a dramatic shift in the exchange rate between the AU dollar and the yen
• Pull back only reverted to 06/07 numbers.

ASIA:  + 7.9%

• Diverse geographic, socio economic and cultural catchment.
• Robust long term growth via direct and agency based bookings.

HONG KONG: + 18.5%

• Surging growth in visitation (reflected by HK dominated winter sales enquiry).
• Word of mouth continues to promote the advantages a nearby Asian resort such as Niseko has over its North American rivals (food, onsens, safety, travel time, time difference etc).

SINGAPORE: - 8%

• This was a surprise to most of us (certainly not reflected in NISADE’s guest figures).
• To put this drop in perspective, more than 3 times the number of Singaporeans visited Niseko in 2008/09 than did in 2006/07.

KOREA: - 42%
TAIWAN: - 24%

• The domestic ski industry in Korea, feeling the pinch of the economic crisis offered hugely discounted rates in an effort to persuade Korean skiers to holiday domestically.
• Like the Australian market trend, these are dramatic falls which were preceded by even more dramatic increases the year before.

MALAYSIA: + 497.5%
THAILAND: + 149%
RUSSIA: + 236%

• These new markets in Niseko began to show their potential of becoming major players over the next 5-10 years.

NORTH AMERICA: + 59%
EUROPE: - 2%

• While still at a very low base, there were promising figures within these markets.

CANADA: + 481%
FRANCE: + 325%
GERMANY: + 200%

• Growth until this point has been almost entirely through word of mouth.
• We project a continued steep increase in skiers from these large, mature ski markets as skiers look for a richer cultural experience on ski holiday.
• Also on-ground operators have not yet even begun to proactively market their accommodation offerings through European / American based travel agents.

(Extract from “Niseko Alpine Review - July 09″ - to subscribe for your latest edition click here)

To gain greater insights into the high end Niseko rental market, we take an in-depth look back at the profile of our guests at The Setsumon.

Our guest services team noticed a sudden shift away from a predominantly Australian market during the 07/08 season. Despite this trend, Australia remained the largest demographic within our own client base, in particular if number of bed nights are considered. Many of our past Australian guests were repeat clients, while the majority of our Asian guests made their first booking with NISADE during the 08/09 season.

(Extract from “Niseko Alpine Review - July 09″ - to subscribe for your latest edition click here)

Our construction team during their early morning assembly meeting. Up to 60 construction workers can be found on site at any one time, not counting the many more in the construction offices.

A sneak preview inside The Vale Niseko. The fitout is already well underway in the resort rooms and is spreading through the rest of the building fast.

The Hirafu village is the heart of the Niseko resort. If you have visited Niseko the chances are you stayed somewhere in one of the two pictures below. Built on the base of the ski slopes it is divided into an upper, middle and lower section.

The below picture shows developments which have been built in the upper village (ski slopes to left and top of picture). The colour signifies the year construction began on each site (Blue 2005, Red 2006, Yellow 2007, Orange 2008).

As you can see from the picture below, the middle and lower village have become quite densely developed in a short space of time.  The orange indicates those properties which began construction as of June 10, ’08 and the green as of October 31, ’08.

(Extract from “Niseko Alpine Review - July 09″ - to subscribe for your latest edition click here)