What now for skiing next season?
Well, just a few weeks ago I was looking forward to some spring skiing with amazing conditions and great snow levels in Corvara, North Eastern Italy. Then the a niggling virus, please forgive my selfish outlook, started to impact on my leisure time. It crept from isolated pockets to Trentino, Bergamo, and then forced the closure of the Italian ski resorts. Suddenly, not only was my holiday a stolen opportunity but also from a business perspective this was catastrophic. As the closures of ski resorts spread across the Alps and the Rockies we saw a 16 week season curtailed by 5 weeks and to contextualise this, it is the equivalent of a non-seasonal business closing its doors for over 3 months.
Undoubtedly, there will be chalet owners and companies that go into liquidation, that is a fact and it will be only a matter of a few weeks before we start seeing these failures. There are transfer and taxi companies that have already failed plus not to mention the recent demise of airlines Thomas Cook, Flybe, with others to follow.
Doom and gloom? Absolute tragedy? No point in skiing? Absolutely not; yes prices will rise but there will be benefits too. Airports are likely to be civilised, and the roads en-route quieter. If you get out to see the white stuff you are likely to see a much lower skieripiste density, uncrowded ski rental shops, quieter restaurants, shorter lift queues and a much more enjoyable experience. There is also likely to be an increase in the number of people hosting their own events rather than mingling in the bars – with options like British Djs in France that’ll help fuel entertainment for more private venues.
It’s likely that we will see a greater proportion of British skiers driving to resort and staying in chalets or self-catering to continue a form of social distancing “light”. We think that skiers may chose against staying in the mega cruise-ship styled hotels of 300 guests given the possibility of a virus bounce-back later in the season. Rubbing shoulders at the buffet or being served in a civilised manner in your own private dining setting? This could even translate to a boom in the catered chalet market. Maybe out of this terrible situation we can enjoy some fertility after the forest fires.
Stay safe, and please do contact us for some skiing advice.