Ski companies optimistic about the future

Ski travel specialists are optimistic about the coming ski season this winter, according to reports. Ski holiday provider Erna Low described the drop in bookings last season as a ‘blip’, while a piece in the Sunday Times states there are already early indications of a rise in interest for ski holidays.

 

The recently released Erna Low Ski Report comments: ‘Consumer confidence was low, people were tightening their belts as they began to feel the first real falls in disposable income since 1981.

 

‘The preceding season had been tough, but last season was brutal.

 

‘One of the choices we know that many skiers made was mentally categorising their summer holiday as a necessity and their winter holiday as a luxury.

 

‘This together with late Easter, poor snow, an over-crowded half term week in which most European countries clashed, the weakness of the pound as well as general recession-inspired fear for the future meant that bookings dipped again.

 

‘What we're seeing at the moment is a blip, a short term decline against a long term growth trend,’

 

The ski market has contracted by 25% since the beginning of the economic downturn in autumn 2008, say experts.

 

Ski website planetSKI, however, claims the figure is closer to 30%.

 

Many ski firms last year used tactical discounts in an attempt to stimulate the market. Erna Low say this is a tactic that cannot be sustained: ‘Discounting is bad for the industry and can't continue indefinitely. It also encourages a wait-and-see mind-set.

 

‘The skew it puts on the market is dangerous, wait and see means there is no commitment. A ski holiday becomes something you might do if various criteria are met, no longer something you commit to at the start of the season.’

 

The article that appeared in the Sunday Times states there are less holidays available for the 2011-2012 winter season due to capacity cuts.

 

This, in addition to the fact that those who missed out on their skiing holiday last year are eager to ‘make up for lost time’, means half-term bookings for next February are selling fast.

 

The article also says that half-term flight prices are sky-rocketing, so putting together a trip independently might be beyond most people’s means.

Meanwhile website planetSKI makes a gloomier appraisal, stating it is not so optimistic about the sector’s swift recovery: ‘We...believe the market will be difficult for some years to come,’ it said.

 

‘It is now at the same level as it was a decade ago and that will take some time to recover from.’