SKI SEASON 2013/14: THE BRITISH MARKET

The most comprehensive survey of the British market comes courtesy of the annual Crystal Ski Report, which is now building up a really useful set of trend data.

The good news this year is that the worst appears to be over.  The total number of skiers last season is put at 899,700, up 1% on the previous year, and the first rise since 2007/8.

This will prompt a glass of crémant de Savoie rather than champagne; the numbers remain far below pre-Crash levels.  Back in 2007/8, some 1,227,000 Brits went on skiing holidays.

Still building in Les Arcs...
Big changes to the Chantel area are
planned for 2014/15

France remains its prominent market share, with Austria consolidating and the Swiss starting to get their house in order.

North America is down, although apparently this is the result of a decline in attractiveness of the US; Canada is apparently improving, on the back of some marketing "momentum",

The student market is up slightly; school ski trips are going in the other direction. Bulgaria is down, following Inghams' withdrawal from the country.

The market share figures are as follows (2011/12 in brackets):

FRANCE: 34.8 (34.6)
AUSTRIA: 28.2 (27.9)
ITALY: 15.2 (15.4)
Andorra: 6.6 (6.5)
Switzerland: 5.5 (4.9)
N. America: 4.0 (4.5)
Bulgaria: 2.4 (2.7)

The trends since 2006/7 are instructive (more here).  In a declining market....

• North America's share has halved, from 7.9% to 4.0%
• Austria is up from 19.0% to 28.2%
• Italy is also up, albeit to a lesser extent: from 13.8% to 15.2% 

SKI SEASON 2012/13: THE BRITISH MARKET

The economic crisis has brought with it a sharp decline in the number of Brits on the pistes, and some quite marked changes in where we go.  The clear winner in this difficult market is Austria - click here for a handy guide to the resorts.

The most comprehensive set of data over time comes from Crystal, who seem to be compiling the information on the market in a reasonably consistent way.  Here's the 2012 report.

The headline is that the total number of British skiers in 2011/12 was 894,700, a 1.8% decline on the previous season.  

However, this compares to 1,227,000 in 2007/8, so we are talking about a 27% fall compared with pre-crisis.  Indeed there are now fewer Brits going skiing than there were in 2000/01, when 921,000 hit the slopes.

Crystal's figures show 57% going with an operator, and 30% travelling independently. They also report a decline in the school market, something which @ernalow highlight as a cause for concern in their analysis of the data.

By county, there are some big changes.  Here's the Top 7 in 2011/12:

La Thuile, Piemonte

1. FRANCE: 34.6%

2. AUSTRIA: 27.9

3. ITALY: 15.4

4. Andorra: 6.5

5. Switzerland: 4.9

6. USA/Canada: 4.5

7. Bulgaria: 2.7

And, back in 2006/7:

1. FRANCE: 37.1

2. AUSTRIA: 19.0

3. ITALY: 13.8

4. Andorra: 11.1

5. USA/Canada: 7.9

6. Switzerland: 5.1

7. Bulgaria: 2.8

By my maths, this means that the total number of skiers going to Austria has risen, from 130,000 to 143,000.  Although their market share is down on 5 years ago, France has improved its relative position, and with the Compagnie des Alpes increasingly in charge of the show, and the quality of accommodation still improving, does look ready to hold its own at the very least.

The picture in Switzerland, on the other hand, is quite acute, with the latest release glumly reporting a 30% fall on 2008/9.  See this report from @Planetski, including details - and a promotional video - of what the Swiss are doing to fight back.  The North Americans, meanwhile, are having a terrible time, and investment in infrastructure is now at its worst for years.  Crystal do report, however, that Whistler is doing well.

Aiguille Rouge, Les Arcs - looking towards Tignes

Another way of looking at this data comes from @skipedia, who recently reported on the total number of skier days - this being the metric used more in Europe as a benchmark. This shows a 17% decline since 2007/8, from 8.5m to 7.1m.