Thanks to the Recession Several Snowboarding Operators Will Be Cutting down Their Amount of Catered Chalets
Thanks to the depression ski bookings dropped this winter.
Even with good early season reservations along with fantastic snow.
This reduction in holidaymakers follows 7 years of growth in the ski industry, and the number of vacationers fell from 1.05 million in 2008/9 to 950000 last season.
This is partly due to skiers giving their annual snowboarding break a miss, and additional snowboarders who would ordinarily take two skiing breaks, just had the one.
A fall of 15% was felt by the independent travel sector and a few no frills airlines cutting the number of their routes to several cities.
However tour operators saw their bookings falling by around 15%.
Nevertheless, the leading companies market share continued at just over a healthy 70% and France retained its position as the top destination with nearly 40% of holidays.
Due to this several operators lowered the amount of chalets they operate this winter.
The luxury chalet market especially will witness a reduction in skiers due to the fact that a luxury catered chalet costs more in terms of employees and rental when it is unsold.
It remains unlikely we shall benefit from the last minute deals which were around last season.
Although costs are in all likelihood to go up, prices probably won’t go up considerably.
The 2009/10 winter doubtless presents grave challenges for an industry that is affected by the outcomes of the down turn, fall in the value of the pound, increased costs of fuel on top of high fixed operating costs for ski businesses.
This year skiers will become more and more price aware, which shall contribute to a reversal of the recent years which witnessed a growth in the independent travel sector.
