Partly Due to the Credit Crunch Several Skiing Operators Are Cutting Their Amount of Luxury Catered Chalets
In light of the credit crunch ski reservations decreased this winter.
In spite of very good early sales coupled with excellent snow conditions.
This fall in numbers follows five winters of continuous growth within the ski industry, and the numbers contracted from 1.2 million in 2008/9 to 900000 last year.
Partly due to skiers giving their annual snowboarding holiday a miss, whilst additional skiers who would usually take two or more snowboarding breaks, only had the one.
A fall of 15% was felt by the independent travel sector with a few cheap airlines reducing the amount of airplanes to several destinations.
Tour operators saw their numbers falling by a similar 15%.
Nevertheless, the top companies market share continued at a healthy 73% and the French Alps retained its position as the favourite destination with about 37% of skiing holidays.
This meant that several operators slashed the total number of luxury catered chalets they rent this coming winter.
Luxury catered chalets will witness a a drop in no.s because a catered chalet costs the operator more in terms of chalet hosts and rent if it is unsold.
It’s unlikely therefore we will see the special offers which were around this winter.
Prices are expected to rise, prices probably won’t go up considerably.
The next winter presents grave issues for an industry which is touched by by the outcomes of the depression, exchange rate pressures, soaring costs of fuel on top of high fixed operating costs for luxury chalet businesses.
Next season vacationers will become increasingly price aware, which shall add to a reversal of the trends of the last years that saw a increase in independent travel.
