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« Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » Euro Visitors Battle Fuel Supplements To Reach U.S. SlopesBy Patrick Thorne 
That's ahead of any other deterrents to fly west such as ever-increasingly stringent (and expensive) immigration requirements at American entry points, or any personal cash flow problems for their clients. According to the Crystal Ski Industry Report for 2007-08 which details the trends of the UK's 1.3 million skiers, virtually all of whom have to choose between flying to Europe or North America each winter. "The North American market remained static despite another season of positive snow reports and the weakness of the dollar. North America may face similar challenges for 2008-9 with capacity constraints on flights and potentially further rises in the cost of transatlantic travel deterring passengers." Current indications are that these predictions are coming true, but that it is not yet a done deal for 2008-09. Complex issues are still playing out in determining the final result. "It would appear that increases in fuel surcharges are dampening demand for North American ski holidays although it's still relatively early days. Immigration isn't a factor in my view, although the new rules may come into play as they become more widely known." said Michael Bennett, Managing Director of Ski Independence, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. His company publishes a North America-only brochure, whereas most of the other leading players mix European, North American, and even South American and Japanese destinations in one publication. Bennett's company had been reporting a few months ago that, despite gloomy reports in the media, early-season bookings to North America were actually up on '07-'08, with clients taking advantage of early booking price deals to secure their vacation and have a long period to budget for cost ahead of their trip. "It is very important to realize that most families have already booked their February 2009 half-term holidays from our Earlybird 08-09 brochure, which was launched last December 2007. Families choose to get in early to secure the best accommodation and flights suited to them, generally at lower prices than our first edition brochure published in the spring. Some families will have booked in December/January for February 2009 before they even travelled on their 2008 February half-term holiday." said Lynsey Devon, spokesperson for Inghams, one of the UK’s two largest operators. Other issues, probably much less of a factor than the key issue of flight cost, include the fact the Alps had a generally good snow winter last season, which received heavy publicity especially at the start of '07-'08 when resorts like Kitzbuhel were able to report their earliest ever opening in a 70-year history, six weeks ahead of schedule. Colorado was having less of a great start to the winter and reports of record snow accumulations later in the season in the U.S. did not have the impact they did the season before when the Alps were suffering. The weak dollar also is losing its novelty value and becoming the norm. An extremely small proportion of people may be put off by the green arguments against trans-atlantic flights, although most of those are assuaged by the possibility of carbon offsetting their flights. Flying itself has become ever more miserable in the UK, but this is not an argument against flying to North America, as trans-atlantic services are, on the whole, far superior to intra-European routers and don’t suffer the miserly baggage allowances which make it physically impossible for skiers to fly from the UK to the Alps without facing supplements. But it does seem to be European destinations that are currently gaining bookings as North American resorts lose ground. "Our strong initial results have fallen back and we're running slightly behind last season in like for like sales for North America. Our European ski sales (France, Switzerland, Austria) are currently 57 percent ahead, so we can see a clear pattern emerging," confirmed Bennett. But with the price of oil currently falling and airlines looking hard at ways to raise revenue, it may not all be bad news, and an upturn in the current booking trend could be imminent. "As I understand it, the airlines have seen North American demand softening, so I'd expect tactical offers and discounts to come into play in the autumn which should help to get prices back on track. We've now had confirmation that there are some exceptional tactical fares to the U.S. on sale, with Canadian fares to follow. Looking at the new fares, we're very confident the reductions will re-stimulate the market and we expect strong demand from this point on," Bennett said. Devon points to another positive sign: Charter bookings to some Canadian and U.S. airports, which are less affected by fuel surcharge price hikes. "On the other hand, Inghams charter flights are doing well as we fixed our rates to the Calgary gateway, so this is currently the best option in terms of long haul. The resorts served include Banff, Lake Louise, Fernie, Panorama, Kicking Horse and Jasper. With the excellent exchange rates, Canada is great value when you get to the resorts too." What It Means: The jury's out for the time being on pre-season Euro bookings for winter 2008-09. But when the graph is finally published showing sales trends over the year up to Dec. 2008, it's likely to show peaks with verticals between them that of which any good ski resort manager would be proud. « Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » |
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