Job Security, Economic Uncertainty and Climate Change and their Influence on Ski Industry Workers in Japan

The Alpine Ski industry is largely populated by a seasonal workforce that provides a range of skills from customer service to logistics and resort management. Increased economic uncertainty following the global financial crisis has resulted in a downturn in skiing participation and this has increased pressures on the availability of seasonal work within the Alpine industry. Furthermore, climate change is having a detrimental impact on the amount and quality of snow cover effectively reducing the length of the ski season addition further pressure on seasonal employment. The purpose of this research is to provide insights into how seasonal workers in ski resorts around Niseko in Hokkaido Japan assess economic uncertainty and how this affects their decision to return to a particular resort each season and whether they seek greater certainty in their employment contract. Levels of uncertainty create issues for organisations in terms of their ability to devise strategies for future growth. Within the tourist industry, seasonality, that is fluctuating demand linked to different periods of the year or actual seasons with different weather patterns, whilst predictable in that they occur every year, are subject to levels of uncertainty due to the unpredictable nature of the environment. This is especially the case in the alpine or winter tourism industry, which is dependent on reliable snow, falls to enable the range of winter sports activities to occur. In recent years two major issues have emerged that arguably have increased levels of uncertainty in the alpine-winter industry, the global financial crisis (GFC) and resulting economic challenges which adversely affect consumer spending power, and climate change which has seen inconsistent snow falls and diminishing snow cover.