Alpine Elements - Best Snow in 10 Years Saves our Ski Industry!

Alpine Elements, Provider of Ski Holidays (https://www.alpineelements.co.uk) Comments That the Best Snow in 10 Years has Saved the Ski Industry.

LONDON, January 21 - A downturn in the British economy coupled with a weaker pound has led
many tour operators to cut their losses and batten down the hatches for a
hard ride through 2010. However if you added bad snow into the equation we
would surely be seeing many more tour op casualties as the great British
public lose all motivation to ski at all!

The onset of a "bad snow year" tends to dent sales volumes by up to 15%
across the board and up to 40% in lower resorts, (below 1500 metres), and
that's in a year when the economy is stable! You can make your own
assumptions as to what would have happened had we been lumped with a bad snow
year during 2010 as well!

With many tour operators relying on lower ski destinations, a year of
poor snow would have crippled their operation which relies upon such slim
industry margins - circa 7-10%

Fortunately, however, poor snow hasn't dogged us this season, in fact
quite the opposite! It has encouraged many skiers to still travel to the Alps
- even in a recession. Clearly we have the commitment from our loyal clients
to thank, and their continued support for still choosing to ski in these hard
times.

Sadly however, whilst we have been seeing excellent snow conditions in
Europe, and depths in most resorts exceeding 2 metres, this hasn't been the
case across the pond. A reminder that climate change is still a real threat
to our snow is clearly evident in what has been going on in many resorts in
British Columbia; which have been closing down due to rain!

Many of the smaller tour operators who didn't have the foresight to
reduce capacity or weren't able to for reasons of commitment, have already
buckled under the strain of rising currency costs abroad and a downturn in
sales from their British clients. A bad snow year would have made this a
reality for significantly more companies, and in turn would have disappointed
a large proportion of traveling skiers this year.

The larger operators and independents have had to weather two years of
increased costs and a lower ASP (Average Selling Price) of their ski
holidays.

Indeed we may have scraped through this year on the back of a good season
of snow, the good times will return and sterling will regain some composure
thus making it less expensive for Brits to travel abroad and tour ops to run
their programmes. But the fact remains that a poor snow year is forever a
threat, especially to the lower resorts without a link to higher slopes
(above 1500m) for their skiing. Our advice can only be to ski at altitude,
never choose a resort where 60% of their skiing is below 1500m and always buy
a package to avoid hefty currency costs abroad!

About Alpine Elements

Alpine Elements specialise in high altitude ski holidays (
www.alpineelements.co.uk) throughout the French Alps and deliver great
deals on ski holidays for single travellers, couples, families and groups.
Alpine Elements also offer discounts for group ski holidays, ski lessons for
beginners and skiing insurance cover. If you are looking for ski chalets or a
want to find out more about ski deals visit www.alpineelements.co.uk.

Contacts media only: James Hardiman, Managing Director +44-(0)844-770-4070, Alpine Elements Ltd, Unit 3, Wigton Place, London, SE11 4AN