Ski holidays bookings busy for September

19th September 2014, by Abi Butcher

Tour operators say bookings for the 2014/15 winter season are healthy. Photo: Crystal Ski

Tour operators say skiers and snowboarders are well into booking their holidays for this winter season.

“We’ve been hugely busy in May, June and July,” said Nick Morgan of Le Ski, which offers catered chalet holidays in Courchevel, Val d’Isère and La Tania.

“September has been a solid month so far and overall we are up about 80/90 per cent year-on-year,” said Dan Fox of skiweekends.com

Marion Telsnig, spokesman for Crystal Ski said: “We’ve had an increase of booking at peak times of nearly 25 per cent, really strong demand for Christmas, New Year and particular for Feb half term, slightly less strong for the Easter week.”

A spokesman for the Warren Smith Ski Academy in Verbier said their programme for the coming winter is already 40 per cent booked. Meanwhile Oxford Ski told WTSS they have had “the best May and August for bookings” ever.

It’s good news following another year of mediocrity for the UK winter sports market. Despite a surge of interest in skiing and snowboard during and after the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, overall the numbers of skiers and boarders flying to the slopes dropped, according to an industry report on the 2013/14 season by Crystal Ski.

Crystal reported a 3.6 per cent decline in the market from 899,700 in 2012/13 to 867,700 in 2013/14 but Crystal Ski managing director Simon Cross said the drop was “entirely due to the Easter date”, which this year fell too late in the season to guarantee snow.

“Easter was compounded by less than average snowfalls,” said Mr Cross, while Hotelplan — which conversely reported a slight upturn in bookings last winter — also blamed the horrendous weather experienced by the UK last winter.

“The environment de-railed the great potential [for a record season],” said Andy Perrin, chief executive of Hotelplan UK, which owns Inghams, Ski Total and Esprit Ski. “The consistency of the flooding and bad weather from December to February was right across the usual peak booking period for skiers.”

The industry is keeping its fingers crossed that the surge in interest this year continues — that the snow falls, the UK weather remains kind and that school term ban on holidays does not further erode a flailing beginners market.

Check out our deals page for a few final (and fabulous) early-booking bargains.