Swallow Ski, a Japanese ski manufacturer that has been exhibiting at Ispo in Munich since 1977, was celebrating its 60th anniversary at this year's show. The company's chief executive, Satoshi Maruyama, has been going to Munich every year since then, always staying at the same hotel. In 1977, there was a Japanese pavilion at Ispo with 10 different Japanese ski brands, but today, Swallow Ski is the only Japanese ski manufacturer left to exhibit at the show. The Japanese ski market has decreased from 2.4 million skis sold in the 1991-92 winter season to a seasonal volume today of only about 300,000 pairs. Swallow Ski, which claims a market share of 15 percent in Japan, expects to sell about 42,000 pairs of Swallow-branded skis by the end of the current autumn/winter season, up by 5 percent compared with the previous season. About 30-40 percent of the skis sold by the company go into the rental business, which is increasing in China and Japan by 10-15 percent a year. While Swallow's sales to the trade are decreasing in Japan, they are slightly increasing in China. 

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