World Events Drive Late Season Ski Holiday Demand

A number of ski holiday companies are reporting that the impact of major world events have boosted late season ski holiday sales, alongside some of the heaviest snowfalls of the season arriving at the end of March, with some ski areas seeing as much as 1.5m of snow in 7 days, as well as quieter slopes and lower prices.

A positive boost from records-breaking British success on snow at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics is being taken as one ski business boosting factor. But the war in the Middle East is also being credited for some people switching planned summer sun trips and long-haul packages via Dubai and Qatar to a late-season ski holiday instead.

“People are reluctant to lose their spring holidays, and with many popular hotspots affected by travel uncertainty, we are seeing a late-season surge in interest in holidays to the French Alps, just two hours from the UK,” commented chalet company Ski Beat’s Laura Hazell, who added, “There’s no need to even ski, though most of our guests will do. For those who don’t, ski resorts have heated swimming pools, spas, sports centres, and activities from sledging to zip-lines, and snowshoeing to mountain biking on snow, or whiling away the day on a sunny mountain terrace.

Other ski holiday companies cited the winter Olympics as droving bookings.

“We have seen a rise in interest, perhaps due to the recent Games, or from people keen to get away to the mountains and away from the doom and gloom in the news,” agreed Simon McIntyre, Managing Director of Iglu Ski, who added, ‘Once again the end of season brings excellent snow conditions, with our customers enjoying top skiing on new snow. We still have some catered chalets available, in popular resorts such as St. Anton, Austria, where Spring skiing conditions are beautiful at present, but time is running out to secure these for Easter.”

The Olympics were also seen as a business booster by Ski Beat.

“We also saw a surge in ski holiday bookings during TV coverage of the games. The good news is that there’s still a great snow base in the French Alps, where the 2030 Winter Olympics will be staged, and these are some of the best times to enjoy longer days, quieter pistes and keener ski holiday prices,” commented Laura Hazell. The company has ski chalet holidays departing every Saturday from now until 18th April, with a week’s skiing for £713pp including flights, transfers and catered chalet accommodation.

Image Copyright IOC Francesco Scaccianoce

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