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« Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » Slovakia Added To UK Tour Offerings; Innovative Guarantees Guard Against Currency FluxBy Patrick Thorne  Inghams, the UK's second biggest winter sports tour operator, is offering all-inclusive ski packages to Slovakia, with lift pass, ski equipment hire, tuition, travel, and half-board accommodation at a low combined rate. Slovakia may be little known on the international stage, and perhaps even less so for its skiing, most of which takes place in a range of mountains similar in scale to those of New England, called the Tatras. However, a 1995 guide published by the country's Ski Association lists no less than 320 ski hills in the country which, given its comparatively small population, is likely to mean a better ski-hill-to-population ratio than any other country on earth. Of course many of these hills have simple surface tows of an antiquated, socialist era design, serving a village meadow, perhaps opening one evening a week if the snow is there; but a few dozen of the bigger and better Slovakian ski areas have benefitted from European Community investment and offer modern facilities including quad chairlifts and good terrain parks with some of the lowest prices in Europe. The country also entered the Euro, the continent's joint currency, Jan. 1, 2009, making price comparison much easier for skiers and tour operators alike. The inclusion of Slovakia can, in part, be put down to bargain hunting by British skiers in tough economic times, but it's not the first time that mainstream operators have included former Eastern Block ski nations in their offerings. Bulgaria continues to be a major shareholder in the British market, despite having only three or four international standard resorts from which to choose. Romania, cheaper still, has its leading resort of Poiana Brasov. Slovenia's Kranjska Gora and Bled are also offered by several large companies. Serbia's Kopaonik was popular before the Balkan Wars and, unlike Bosnia's Sarajevo, host of the 1984 Winter Olympic Games, made a comeback in recent years as part of the peace dividend. Kopaonik was subsequently dropped again, this time due to an inability to reach a satisfactory trading deal with the resort operator. Poland's Zakopane also was offered in the 1980s. But it's not all bargain basement skiing for the new season. New choices are opening up for Brits travelling to the U.S. for the coming winter, including a growing range of top-end choices, apparently in contrast to the drop in business to North America last winter and challenging conditions still looming again for 2009-10. Crystal, the UK's largest operator, is offering Mammoth Mountain, Calif., as one of only four new destinations worldwide this winter (a fraction of the usual list of new choices each year) while dropping its ski trips to Scandinavia completely. The Mammoth package options include add-on nights in Santa Monica and a free lift pass offer ("buy one, get two free"), which neatly gets around one issue that Europeans booking ski holidays to North America find on arrival: American resort lift tickets can cost twice as much as in the Alps. 'Crystal Finest,' the company's upscale division, also is leading with seven new hotels in the U.S., including Aspen's Little Nell and Limelight Lodge and the Viceroy in Snowmass, a five-star ski-in/out hotel scheduled to open in Decmber, as well as properties in Steamboat,Vail, Colo., and Squaw Valley, Calif. The Crystal Finest division reports it had quite a good season last winter, despite the general state of the market. "Last winter was another successful season for us despite the economic situation and that's why we are adding more properties. Our customers welcome high standards of accommodation in the very best ski resorts," Product Manager Sue Livsey told The Industry Report. The main thrust of all the UK's operators are "inclusive value" packages, aimed at re-assuring cash-strapped clients that they won't again face such high in-resort costs as last winter, when the British pound plummeted to buying less than 1.4 U.S. dollars per pound after several years of buying about 2 dollars, and similarly fell by a quarter against the Euro to nearly 1 pound equalling 1 Euro. The all-inclusive deals are typically offered in the low season and include the cost of ski hire (or carriage of equipment on the plane) and lift ticket alongside the standard package features of international travel, airport transfers, accommodation and often meals, as well as an in-resort company representative to help when required. Crystal calls this service "Crystal Ski Plus" and offers deals from about US$790 dollars per week, for its "Crunch-Buster." The additional good news for the British travel industry is that the pound has gradually recovered over the past six months and now buys nearly 1.2 Euros and nearly 1.7 U.S. Dollars - about 10 percent down from its highest point in winter 07-08, rather than 20-30 percent down as last winter. What it means: British tour operators continue to find innovative new destination ideas, despite the global economic slowdown. Perhaps equally important, they also are offering a guaranteed complete holiday price for skiers, despite currency fluctuations, learning from last winter's experience. Further, reports of the demise of the top end of the market may be premature, and operators are positioning themselves for a post-slump boom in this sector. Still, anyone for Slovakia? « Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » Comments
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Posted by: Michel Beaudry Michel Beaudry Communications | August 10, 2009 10:55 AM
