Alpine Elements - Best Snow in 10 Years Saves our Ski Industry!

LONDON, Jan. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- A downturn in the British economy coupled with a weaker pound has led many tour operators to cut their losses and batten down the hatches for a hard ride through 2010. However if you added bad snow into the equation we would surely be seeing many more tour op casualties as the great British public lose all motivation to ski at all!

The onset of a "bad snow year" tends to dent sales volumes by up to 15% across the board and up to 40% in lower resorts, (below 1500 metres), and that's in a year when the economy is stable! You can make your own assumptions as to what would have happened had we been lumped with a bad snow year during 2010 as well!

With many tour operators relying on lower ski destinations, a year of poor snow would have crippled their operation which relies upon such slim industry margins - circa 7-10%.

Fortunately, however, poor snow hasn't dogged us this season, in fact quite the opposite! It has encouraged many skiers to still travel to the Alps – even in a recession.  Clearly we have the commitment from our loyal clients to thank, and their continued support for still choosing to ski in these hard times.

Sadly however, whilst we have been seeing excellent snow conditions in Europe, and depths in most resorts exceeding 2 metres, this hasn't been the case across the pond. A reminder that climate change is still a real threat to our snow is clearly evident in what has been going on in many resorts in British Columbia; which have been closing down due to rain!

Many of the smaller tour operators who didn't have the foresight to reduce capacity or weren't able to for reasons of commitment, have already buckled under the strain of rising currency costs abroad and a downturn in sales from their British clients. A bad snow year would have made this a reality for significantly more companies, and in turn would have disappointed a large proportion of traveling skiers this year.

The larger operators and independents have had to weather two years of increased costs and a lower ASP (Average Selling Price) of their ski holidays.

Indeed we may have scraped through this year on the back of a good season of snow, the good times will return and sterling will regain some composure thus making it less expensive for Brits to travel abroad and tour ops to run their programmes. But the fact remains that a poor snow year is forever a threat, especially to the lower resorts without a link to higher slopes (above 1500m) for their skiing.  Our advice can only be to ski at altitude, never choose a resort where 60% of their skiing is below 1500m and always buy a package to avoid hefty currency costs abroad!

About Alpine Elements

Alpine Elements specialise in high altitude ski holidays throughout the French Alps and deliver great deals on ski holidays for single travellers, couples, families and groups. Alpine Elements also offer discounts for group ski holidays, ski lessons for beginners and skiing insurance cover. If you are looking for ski chalets or a want to find out more about ski deals visit http://www.alpineelements.co.uk.

SOURCE Alpine Elements Ltd