Due to the Depression Several Skiing Businesses Will Be Cutting Their Number of Catered Chalets
Partly due to the credit crunch skiing occupancies fell this season.
This is even with excellent early season reservations and great snow.
These reductions in skiers follows 5 winters of growth within the skiing industry, and the number of vacationers fell from 1.1 million in 2008 to 850000 last year.
This is in part due to snowboarders giving their annual ski holiday a miss, and other vacationers who’d normally have two skiing breaks, only took the one.
The independent travel sector fell by 15% with several low cost airlines slashing the amount of flights to several cities.
However tour operators witnessed the sales going down by a similar 15%.
Nevertheless, the top operators share stayed at just over 70% and the French Alps remained the most popular skiing destination with 37% of the English ski market.
Due to this many ski operators cut the no. of luxury catered chalets they lease this winter.
Catered chalets will surely witness a a drop in holiday makers because a luxury catered chalet costs more in terms of chefs and hosts and rent if it is not occupied.
It remains unlikely that we shall find the skiing holiday deals which were around this year.
Prices are in all likelihood to go up, they are unlikely to rise much.
Next season beyond any doubt poses real challenges for an industry which is affected by the outcomes of the depression, exchange rate pressures, high costs of fuel as well as high fixed operating costs for skiing companies.
Next year snowboarders will become increasingly price sensitive, which will contribute to a reversion of the recent years that witnessed a development in independent travel.
