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Winter breaks: ski season preview
Thursday, September 24, 2009 Ski operators are hoping to bounce back from a tricky season last year. Rob Gill checks out what’s new The winter sports market was hit hard last year, with the number of UK skiers dropping by about 13% to just over one million after several years of consistent growth. This decline has inevitably led to capacity cuts by operators for 2009-10. But there are still plenty of deals and other incentives available to encourage skiers to book their trip, including many early booking offers. Ski companies are hoping that there will be no repeat of last autumn when the worldwide financial crisis kicked in during the crucial booking months of September and October. Price offers Many leading ski operators are offering prices at the same level or lower than last season as well as promotions such as free child places, lift passes and ski hire, plus deals on ski lessons. Tui Ski, which includes Crystal, Thomson and First Choice winter sports programmes, predicts many skiers will return to booking operator packages instead of the DIY route. Managing director Mathew Prior says: “We can demonstrate that you cannot do it cheaper yourself. Customers are also looking for the reassurance and security offered by strong established brands.” Tui is targeting skiing veterans with its new Crystal Ski Plus packages, which offer prices 25-30% lower than last year to some of the most popular resorts in Europe and North America. Elsewhere, sister brands Esprit Ski and Ski Total have produced “Crunch Buster” special-edition brochures featuring offers for families such as free child holidays and equipment hire. Inghams is promoting free lift passes and ski hire plus two-for-one deals on ski and snowboard lessons in some resorts. Luxury operator Ski Dream says that the price of ski holidays has dropped across the board with both European and North American holidays being cheaper this year due to better hotel rates, more deals and a drop in fuel surcharges. Upmarket specialists VIP and Snowline are offering savings of £100 from brochure prices during five Saver Weeks this season for bookings made by the end of October. Non-euro destinations such as Bulgaria and Romania may benefit this season as skiers look for a bargain holiday. Specialist Balkan Holidays has deals to resorts in these countries. New destinations Even though capacity has been cut for this winter, many of the leading operators have introduced resorts for the coming season. Inghams has added the Lapland resort of Salla offering learn to ski and snowboard packages alongside reindeer, husky and snowmobile safaris, and ice fishing. It has also introduced Tatras in Slovakia. Eight high-altitude resorts in Switzerland have been included by Neilson, alongside Seefeld in Austria and new chalets in Finland and France. Tui Ski’s major brands have all added resorts. Crystal has included Hinterglemm and Itter in Austria, France’s La Toussuire plus Mammoth in the US. Hinterglemm and La Toussuire have also been added by Thomson alongside Austria’s Berwang and Verbier in Switzerland, while First Choice’s new resorts are Valloire and Valmeinier in France, and Winter Park in Colorado. Flexible options While the traditional seven and 14-night holidays still dominate the winter sports market, operators continue to offer more flexible options such as ski weekends and more unusual durations. Most ski weekends are inevitably offered in European resorts due to the short flying time and range of flights to key gateway airports. France specialist Lagrange offers a range of short ski breaks, as do big players such as Crystal and Inghams. There is also a growing range of more flexible holidays to long-haul ski destinations. Neilson has introduced flexible dates and durations to Canada and the US, while Inghams has 10 and 11-night ski trips to Canada. DIY skiing The decision by major operators to cut capacity has enabled some leading accommodation-only players to move into the market or expand their portfolio of ski properties. Hotels4U, owned by Thomas Cook, has launched its first ski programme for 2009-10 with more than 100 properties including hotels, apartments and chalets in destinations such as Andorra, Austria, Bulgaria, France, Italy and Switzerland. Its sister company, Medhotels, launched its ski product last year. While some ski routes have been cut by no-frills airlines in the last couple of years, the likes of Jet2, easyJet, Bmibaby, Ryanair and Flybe still offer regular services from a range of UK airports to key ski destinations. There are also other options, such as Eurostar’s ski train to the French Alps, which operates from December 2009, and ferries for customers who don’t mind a long drive. Ski transfers have been a growing business in recent years and specialists such as Holiday Taxis, Resorthoppa, Taxi Transfers and A2B Transfers offering a range of services from airports to leading ski resorts in Europe. Holiday Taxis is increasing the number of gateway airports by 30% this winter and adding more rail stations. The company has also introduced interactive online maps to make it easier for agents to sell ski transfers. Taxi Transfers has also expanded its routes including adding transfers from rail stations. Other ski components can be purchased from companies such as Ski Holiday Extras, which offers ski hire, lift passes and lessons as well as airport transfers. The specialist has just launched XML feeds to agents allowing them to integrate Ski Holiday Extras’ prices and product information into their own booking systems. All-inclusives One of the few travel sectors to perform well during the summer has been all-inclusive resorts as they help holidaymakers to budget more easily before they go away. All-inclusive chains such as Club Med and Mark Warner may benefit from this trend during the ski season, particularly as most of their resorts are in countries with the euro continuing to be strong against the pound. Tui Travel’s decision to cut its portfolio of chalets by 40% for this winter may also help increase demand for all-inclusive properties.
Extras www.skiholidayextras.com
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