Using Google Search data we analysed more than 6,000 ski-related terms to reveal which UK cities are the most snowsports obsessed and whether skiing or snowboarding is more popular to each city’s population.
Key takeaways/findings
- The most snowsports obsessed cities in the UK are Bournemouth, Newcastle upon Tyne and Cambridge according to Google search data (on a per capita basis).
- Bournemouth ranked no.1 with a snowsports search volume of 118,435 per capita (100,000), 198% higher than the national average.
- The cities which had the lowest interest in snowsports were Sunderland, Nottingham and Coventry. Coventry’s search interest per capita was 92% lower than Bournemouth.
- Nationally, 55% of searches were for skiing, compared to 45% for snowboarding. Belfast had the highest share of skiing related searches, Dundee had the highest share of snowboard related searches.
- Of the top 20, eight cities were based in the South of England and six were in the North of England. Scotland had two features in the top 20, Wales and Northern Ireland had one each.
The most snowsports obsessed Canadian cities according to Google
Looking on a per-capita (per 100,000 people) basis we ranked the 60 largest cities in the UK based on their search interest in snowsports, as well as the split in interest between skiing and snowboarding.
When analysing the latest search data from Google, Bournemouth was crowned the snowsports capital of the UK, ranking number one for searches per capita (118,435).
On a per capita basis, Newcastle upon Tyne came in second, followed by Cambridge in third and York in fourth.
When looking at the capital cities of each of the three countries that make up the United Kingdom, London ranked in 17th position and Cardiff in 38th, while Edinburgh made the top 10 coming in at 8th.
Skiing vs snowboarding : which is more popular in each city?
The study also looked at the popularity of different snowsports by assessing the percentage of searches related to either skiing or snowboarding. The analysis found that at a national-level, 55% of the search interest was for skiing, compared to 45% for snowboarding.
At a city level, Bournemouth had a relatively similar split to the national average, 52% for skiing and 48% for snowboarding. Belfast recorded the strongest skew towards skiing, with 67% compared to only 33% snowboard. Dundee on the other hand had the higher share of snowboarding search at 63% vs 37% skiing.
How does the UK compare to other countries
We also looked at the same metrics at a national level to see how the UK fared against the United States, Canada, Australia and Ireland. Out of the countries, the UK ranked in fourth position above Ireland. The UK and Ireland were the only countries which saw a stronger skew towards skiing.
Snowsports searchers (per capita)
- Canada : 69,687 searches
- USA : 348,248 searches
- Australia : 45,708 searches
- UK : 39,764 searches
- Ireland : 34,872 searches
Split between skiing and snowboarding
- Canada : 32% skiing, 68% snowboarding
- USA : 39% skiing, 61% snowboarding
- Australia : 34% skiing, 66% snowboarding
- UK : 55% skiing, 54% snowboarding
- Ireland : 70% skiing, 30% snowboarding
Conclusion
Despite the UK being home to only a small number of ski fields, this study shows the impressive and widespread love for winter sports that British people hold. With well connected airports British ski travellers have easy access to some of the best resort destinations across Austria, Switzerland, France and more. If you’re thinking about heading to a ski resort this winter, why not consider going for the full season and working a season. We encourage you to explore the different types of ski resort jobs that are available.
The Methodology
Using Google Data (Keyword Planner) we analysed data for a full 12 months between September 2022 and August 2023.
A seed set of keywords was used to generate a complete list of keywords (6,184) covering a broad cross-section of snowsports terms from ski resorts, activities, brands, athletes and other relevant search queries. This keyword list and associates search volume was then segmented against each of the 50 cities through targeting in the Google platform. The national and 60 cities’ population was sourced from https://www.worldometers.info, using an estimation which is an elaboration of data by United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. The following cities were not targetable on Google therefore they were not included in this analysis: Islington, City of Westminster, Bexley and Archway. So the next 4 largest cities were used in their place.
For the ski and snowboard comparative statistics, the total 12 month search volume for “Skiing” or “snowboarding” was worked out as a percentage by totally up the two and dividing by each discipline.
For the national-level analysis the same process was followed and population estimates data were also collected from https://www.worldometers.info.
