NO LONGER NO 1: The French Ski Market

"France loses its No 1 spot as the world's top country for skiing" says the new press release from resort association Domaines skiable de France.

The release goes on: "...a place it would have kept had it not been for the new school holiday calendar".

The "reforms" to the French school holiday calendar have left the ski resorts foaming at the mouth.  Easter holidays now don't start until mid April at the earliest.

The result: business is down by 70% at this time of the year, and it now makes up just 2-3% of the season's business, compared with 8% before 2010.

Looking at 2013/14 specifically, skier days are down 4.5%. and away from the lifts, resort takings are down 2.3%.  The Vosges and Jura had a complete nightmare.

Also in the firing line are increases to VAT and dodgy weather during January and February.  The general decline in the number of French people going on holiday completes the gloomy picture.

The best the resort association seems to be able to come up with is that last season is broadly in line with the average for the previous four seasons (2012/13 having been better than normal).

The French border above La Rosiere

Their new report  includes loads of fine statistics.  For example:

• The US now records 56.2m skier days (-1.2%)
• France has 55.3m (-4.5)
• Austria 50.8 (-6.3)

And:

• For every €1 spent on lift passes, 6€ are spent elsewhere in the resort 
• There are 120,000 seasonal jobs in France - 90,000 of which are in the Northern French Alps
• 68.1% of skiers are French; 11.6% are Brits
• French ski passes are apparently 11% cheaper than those in Austria and 17% cheaper than the Swiss.  (Not too convinced by this one!)

For the full stats fest, click here.

Seasonal workers at Les Arcs

STILL GOING DOWNHILL: The British Ski Market

The British ski market continues to struggle.  The latest Crystal report, summarised here by the energetic folk at Planet Ski, finds just 867,000 Brits making the journey to the slopes last year, down 3.6% on 2012/13.

Back in 2007/8 the number of British skiers stood at around 1.2m.  Click here for more on the long term trends.

Alongside economic woes (there are now 5m "lapsed" British skiers and indoor slopes in the UK are booming), indifferent snow and a late Easter are deemed to be important factors.

Independent skiers are down 5.8%, while the school market shows a small fall, at -1%. France and Austria continue to dominate the market, welcoming more than 60% of the remaining British skiers.

Switzerland is on the rise, albeit from a small base.  It has seen its share increase from 4.9% to 6.5% in two years.  But that is now under threat following new labour laws which have promoted some chalet operators to pull out.  More on that story here.

The Planet Ski summary finds many tour operators claiming to be bucking the trend - but it is very much a battle over share of wallet in a market which is static at best.

At Arc 1800, Compagnie des Alpes is investing millions
in reshaping the Chantel slopes below this point - more here.

WINTER OLYMPICS 2022: A Two-Horse Race

Planet Ski reports that Oslo is the latest candidate to quit the race to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.

In doing so, the Norwegian capital joins Barcelona, Munich, Davos/St Moritz, Stockholm and Krakow.

This leaves Almaty in Kazakhstan and Beijing as the only two remaining candidates.

Perhaps there will be a French bid for the 2026 games.  Then again, after the shambles of the Annecy 2018 bid, perhaps not.

La Plagne (looking over to Les Arcs).  The resort's bobsleigh track
was wheeled out as part of the Annecy 2018 bid