who came to niseko?

Data supplied by the Niseko Promotion Board, based on information from major accommodation providers, gives a reasonable profile of Niseko visitation in the 2009-10 White Season.

Japanese comprise almost two-thirds of Niseko visitors, with Australians comprising the largest single group of foreign guests.  The most international of the Japanese snow resorts, Niseko is also becoming increasingly popular with visitors from Hong Kong and Singapore.


The time series chart illustrates the popularity of the peak months of January and February, with a significant decline in March, despite some excellent snow conditions.  Total recorded visitor numbers were over 270,000; including almost 40,000 Australians.

final flake count

Frequently asked questions are "how much does it snow in Niseko?" and "when is the best time to go to Niseko?"  The above chart illustrates how much it snowed and the snowdepths during the season.  When the Niseko lifts stopped spinning on Sunday 9 May there was still about 2.5 metres of snow on the peaks.  Conservatively counted cumulative snowfall in Niseko during this White Season exceeded 15 metres (over 50 feet for the non-metric) since the lifts began turning at the end of November.  Some flake-counters are suggesting that the total snowfall over the past season was even higher, at 18 metres.

Snowfall chart data is derived from snowjapan.com reports, with the snow depth measured at the top of Hirafu.