as much as everyone loves to hate monopolies, Vail actually put money back into the resorts they own and boosts the local economy with new tourism.
most locations ive skied in Japan have 60 year old fixed grip chairlifts that have terribly designed lift placement that don't compliment eachother, the hill, or suffer badly from wind. not to mention the almost nonexistent facilities on the hill.
while the land-of-the-rising-bureaucracy is not likely to let them cut down trees and build new stuff anytime soon, at least they might replace/upgrade the existing infrastructure.
one by one the small local ski fields are dying off because of their exclusive customer base of aging Japanese local population is no longer keeping them afloat. grinding harder and harder stubbornly using a no longer working business model doesn't mean you'll achieve better results.
I don't know much about the inner workings, and i love to rag on Kiroro's management, but Kiroro a good example. >5 years ago I'd ski there and be the only westerner among the 20-30 other skiers there (on weekdays). now its in the top 5 shortlist of destinations tourists want to ski in Hokkaido. they completely changed up management (and ownership i believe), made (and still make) a bunch of embarrassing and/or frustrating decisions, but the rest of the stuff they've done has certainly worked.
im sad that my secret easily access powder fields are no longer a secret, but its is outweighed by happiness that they are succeeding, not becoming yet another abandoned dead ski resort, and maybe adding new stuff eventually. because of their success nearby ski fields are back on the map for tourists now too, and new tourism based companies are popping up everywhere to fill the gaps.
sure money is going overseas now to some taiwanese(?) dude and his shareholders, but the total money and tax revenue in the region has still increased.
whenever i see people objecting to the sale of a ski resort i cant help but think that their primary motivation is selfishness at losing their own secret easily accessed powder field like i did.
regarding ticket prices. whilst i fully admit Vail resorts day passes are usually ripoff territory, their season pass is half that of most other resorts ive skiied at, and i'd bet those locals who almost exclusively keep those local ski fields open are already buying season passes anyway.
if you're gonna ski more than 3 days at any Vail resort its almost always better to buy a season pass. season passes cant be purchased after a certain date (nov sometime i think) but I reckon 99% of tourists have already plans in mind before such a date. otherwise I guess those day trippers use those 25% discounts available at rental stores n stuff?