So, how’s business doing? - James Cove
Tuesday June 30, 2009 - Email this article to a friend

Speak to many tour operators and lift companies and they say it’s been a great winter so far fuelled by record levels of snow.  They cite how skiers and snowboarders love their sport and will carry on doing it come what may.

Take a look at the number of discounted holidays on offer and look closely at availability for the rest of the winter and it’s a very different story.

I know many people who have decided not to take a ski holiday this winter and others who are holding off till they see what happens. People are spending less in resorts and cutting back on expensive meals, ski lessons and buying equipment.

Facts are few and far between, but here are a few.

Vanoise Express connecting La Plagne to Les Arcs- The Compagnie des Alpes that owns the lifts in many resorts, including la Plagne, Les Arcs, Espace Killy, Saas Fee, Cormayers and others, said at Christmas that it’s advance bookings were up 2.5% on the previous year.

- Verbier clamied a 33% increase in people skiing in the 4 Valleys in the last week of 2008.

- Villars had 11,500 people on its slopes on January 2nd which is a record for the Swiss resort.

- Zermatt was fully booked over New Year.

However here are some facts from the other side of the story

- One of Verbier’s oldest and most respected chalet companies has vacancies over half-term week in February. That’s never happened before.

- Ski Schools have less bookings than previous seasons and some instructors were not even working over New Year as bookings weren’t coming in.

- Some holidays are being sold at half price and still they’re not being bought by British skiers.

- In the USA Vail resorts has seen 5.8% less people in the resort and lift ticket sales are down 7.5%

I made a film just before Christmas for the BBC looking at the issue of how the ski industry may be affected by the credit crunch.

The most accurate information and view comes from the honest and straight talking, Heidi Reiss, the Product Manager from Switzerland Tourism. She predicts a 5% fall in business with problems going on for at least another 2 years.

Swiss concerns“It’s been strong over Christmas/New Year but there will be a significant downturn in the second part of the winter. The domestic market will still be holding up and the decrease from the neighbouring markets of Germany and France will be moderate. The decrease from other markets and especially from UK visitors will be more serious though,” Reiss tells us here at PlanetSKI.

“Overall we estimate a decrease of 4 to 6% compared with the record winter 2007/2008. The economic downturn will have its effects into the winter 2010/2011”.

She also points out that the excellent snow this winter has helped and that many Swiss resorts are high so have good snow and long descents.

From my own observations, and the others here at PlanetSKI, the exchange rate is having a significant impact.  Many of the questions we have received at Ask PlanetSKI are about how to save money while in the resort.  Take a look at this guide and it will give you a few hints too on saving money.

However the bad exchange rate is partly helping tour operators as it means people are buying their holiday in sterling at pre-set exchange rates. The package holiday is therefore more attractive than going independently and buying at the current dreadful exchange rates.

However, this will have a big impact for next year’s prices which will probably rise sharply and many in the industry think next season will be the really difficult one, not this winter.

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