Entering the early days of 2024, snowmobile trails across Ontario remain grass green with an added splash of slush and rocks. According to the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC), a non-profit that facilitates organized snowmobiling in the province, Ontario’s 30,000 snowmobile trails remain closed, including those as far north as Thunder Bay and Kenora.
Shortened seasons have been a recurring theme in recent years—to the chagrin of avid snowmobilers—but despite the snowless weather, the snowmobile industry in Ontario is booming. Whether it will stay that way is up to mother nature.
A report released by the OFSC in November found that the snowmobiling industry was expected to generate $3 billion in economic activity for Ontario in 2023, nearly twice as much as 2019 ($1.6 billion). Based off current trends, the report said that the province’s snowmobiling industry has the potential to generate up to $6 billion annually.
As part of the report, researchers surveyed over 95,000 snowmobilers in Ontario and found that during the 2022/2023 winter season, they spent approximately $1.48 billion on snowmobile-specific expenditures. This included the cost of a snowmobile, averaging around $15,440; a seasonal permit, costing around $294; insurance, averaging $717; maintenance and repairs, averaging $870; clothing, averaging $801; fuel, averaging $387; food and beverage, averaging $258 per trip; and overnight accommodations averaging $390, among other expenses.
This is a substantial increase from a 2019 report that showed Ontario snowmobilers’ expenditures totalling $842 million.
“This study reaffirms our position that Ontario’s winter tourism economy runs on snowmobiling,” said Ryan Eickmeier, OFSC’s CEO, in a statement. “The economic impact of our snowmobile trails is especially important to rural and northern Ontario.”
While this is reassuring news for everyone involved in the snowmobile industry, it’s difficult to predict whether these economic trends will continue indefinitely—especially as climate change continues to transform Ontario’s winters. The report acknowledged that during the 2022/2023 season, snowmobilers averaged 11 usable snowmobiling weeks, with areas in southern Ontario, particularly around London and Brantford, only experiencing one usable week.
“Survey results indicated that 46.9 per cent of respondents were less active in snowmobiling during the 2022/2023 season compared to other seasons, likely due to poor weather conditions in many areas of Ontario,” the report said.
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