In Part Due to the Recession a Lot of Ski Companies Are Cutting Their Amount of Catered Chalets
July 20th, 2009Thanks to the recession snowboarding accommodation occupancies decreased last season.
This is even with good pre season ski accomodation sales coupled with great snow fall.
This drop in numbers follows on from six seasons of development in the ski industry, and the number of vacationers came down from 1.05 million two winters ago to 950000 last ski season.
Perhaps due to skiers giving their annual ski trip a miss, and additional vacationers who would generally have 2 ski breaks, merely had the one.
Sales for the independent travel sector fell by 15% and numerous low priced airlines cutting the no. of airplanes to several airports.
Moreover tour operators witnessed the sales going down by 15%.
Still, the top six companies share of the market continued at 70% and the French Alps carried on as the top holiday destination with nearly 40% of the market.
This meant that many tour operators reduced the total number of luxury catered chalets they operate this year.
The catered chalet markets in particular are going to witness a fall in clients as a catered ski chalet costs more for the tour operator with regards to chalet chefs and rental when it is empty.
It seems unlikely we will witness the type of special offers that were up for grabs this season.
Although costs are likely to go up, costs are unlikely to rise a lot.
The next winter without doubt presents grievous challenges for an industry which is influenced by the effects of the depression, weakness of the pound against the euro, high costs of fuel and large fixed costs for ski businesses.
This winter vacationers will become more and more price sensitive, which will contribute to a turnabout of recent trends which saw a development in independent travel.
Large scale operators could possibly re-gain some of the customers lost to the independent travel sector if they employ their buying-power to get better costs and pass these savings onto clients as tempting packages.
