France, April 5 -- France is the world's leading ski destination after the United States, clocking up around 50 million annual visits to its 249 resorts.
"White gold" is a big economic driver, with the ski industry employing some 120,000 people, both directly and indirectly.
But long-term, skiing is doomed. France's space agency (CNES) predicts that around half of Europe's ski resorts will close by 2050 and virtually all by the end of the century, due to global warming.
"We're heading towards fewer good winters and more poor ones," says Hugues Francois, a researcher specialising in mountain tourism and climate change at INRAE in Grenoble.
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