Crystal have released their Ski Industry Report 2009, which is the usual mix of facts, figures and PR. 2008/9 was not a great season overall for the UK ski industry despite great snowfall pretty much everywhere.
Crystal estimated the number of people taking a ski holiday to be 1,064,000 last winter, down from 1,227,000 (13%) the previous year. This follows seven years of small, but steady, growth. In truth, the UK ski market will never show amazing growth unless there is a growth in the schools market. At least this has remained steady with more than 140,000 young skiers travelling last year.
The number of UK skiers has been just above the 1 million mark since 2002, but it could well drop below that figure in 2009/10. The industry must be concerned by a 13% drop in numbers followed by another slow year. Once you lose skiers, with every passing year, it’s harder to get them back.
For 2009/10 the larger operators are taking a cautious approach, weary of carrying too many fixed costs into the season. This has mainly resulted in a reduction in the number of chalets on offer. Will the drop in capacity mean opportunities for independent chalet operators and the independent market? Crystal have said that they have managed to keep price rises down to around 3%, but smaller operators don’t have the same buying power and control over their costs. This may result in some operators looking quite uncompetitive in the winter should the sterling’s recovery continue. Overall, it’s looking like it will be another tricky winter.
