SKI SEASON 2013/14: THE BRITISH MARKET

The most comprehensive survey of the British market comes courtesy of the annual Crystal Ski Report, which is now building up a really useful set of trend data.

The good news this year is that the worst appears to be over.  The total number of skiers last season is put at 899,700, up 1% on the previous year, and the first rise since 2007/8.

This will prompt a glass of crémant de Savoie rather than champagne; the numbers remain far below pre-Crash levels.  Back in 2007/8, some 1,227,000 Brits went on skiing holidays.

Still building in Les Arcs...
Big changes to the Chantel area are
planned for 2014/15

France remains its prominent market share, with Austria consolidating and the Swiss starting to get their house in order.

North America is down, although apparently this is the result of a decline in attractiveness of the US; Canada is apparently improving, on the back of some marketing "momentum",

The student market is up slightly; school ski trips are going in the other direction. Bulgaria is down, following Inghams' withdrawal from the country.

The market share figures are as follows (2011/12 in brackets):

FRANCE: 34.8 (34.6)
AUSTRIA: 28.2 (27.9)
ITALY: 15.2 (15.4)
Andorra: 6.6 (6.5)
Switzerland: 5.5 (4.9)
N. America: 4.0 (4.5)
Bulgaria: 2.4 (2.7)

The trends since 2006/7 are instructive (more here).  In a declining market....

• North America's share has halved, from 7.9% to 4.0%
• Austria is up from 19.0% to 28.2%
• Italy is also up, albeit to a lesser extent: from 13.8% to 15.2% 

VILLARS

Villars may no longer be in the Premier League of Swiss ski resorts, but is a pretty strong proposition for day trippers or people on a short break.  It's handy for Geneva airport (allow an hour and a half) and is very close indeed for anyone staying in Lausanne or Montreux.

The resort is marketed jointly with its neighbour Gryon (website here), and also forms part of a wider Alpes Vaudoises offering 225kms of pistes, or indeed 420kms for a mega-pass which includes Gstaad.

The local ski area gives access to a respectable 100kms, and is linked to Les Diablerets via a strange old two person chairlift: here's a nice write-up on the area via the Daily Mail.  There's a certain quirkiness about the place; the lift pylons include quotes from Camus, de Beauvoir and...Woody Allen.

Skiing in the area has a fine history, and visiting today feels a bit like going to a museum of ski lifts.  Cog railways, gondolas, slow chairs, fast chairs, T-bars, pomas...all are on view:

(A short) T-bar linking Villars with Gryon's ski area

The quickest entry into the ski area is to park at the Roc d'Orsay lift at the entrance to the village.  (If you want to ski the Diablerets glacier you'd be best just to go there directly and park at the Col de Pillon.  There are buses from Les Diablerets village, but the service is pretty limited.)

Avoid the Vers l'Eglise area if you dislike draglifts.  Instead ski down to Les Diablerets village and have lunch at the Les Vioz restaurant at the foot of the main chairlift.

It's a fun area to explore, with skiing on a number of different mountains.  The Croix des Chaux area above Gryon has some fine open slopes, and a long and beautiful run down through pastures and chalets to the village - around 1000m of descent.  There's an annoying walk from the bottom to the gondola back up, but a more direct route to the lift is probably possible (visibility was not good on my visit).

Croix des Chaux, 2000m

Foot of the slope at Gryon

In March 2013, they have excellent snow conditions, and could certainly carry on longer than the 7 April closing date: the south facing nature of the pistes and low altitude do mean that this is probably never going to be a mecca for late season skiing however.

This week the British Ski Academy was holding a training camp, and a party of 40 Chinese skiers was in town.  Apparently the Chinese have already overtaken the Dutch in visits to Switzerland.  The Swiss tourist industry clearly has high hopes of further building its presence in the Asian market in the wake of its loss of market share to Austria and France.

On your way home, do make sure you take the exciting fast blue back from Bretaye to the telecabine.

There seems to be an ongoing debate about linking Les Diablerets with Chateau d'Oex to form a "mega resort", as well as uncertainty about the future of the Isenau area.  If you want to explore the skiing there you'd probably be best driving straight to Diablerets rather than striking out from Villars.

JAMES BOND ON SKIS

James Bond didn't get where he is today without being a good skier.

This clip from On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) credits Zermatt, but there's no mention of this in the Wikipedia entry for the film.

This may be the most famous clip of all.  From the top of Murren's Shilthorn, the Escape from Piz Gloria.  Includes some impressive descending by Bond on one ski:

The scene from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) is apparently (mostly) shot in St Moritz:

For Your Eyes Only (1981), filmed in Cortina, includes the famous but tragic bobsleigh scene - it saw one of the stuntmen killed on the final day of filming.  More here.

This clip from A View To A Kill (1985) includes what may be the first appearance of snowboarding in a Bond film (after 0.46).  Although billed as "Siberia", it was shot in Iceland.

From The World Is Not Enough (1999), here's Chamonix, pretending to be the Caucasus:

Finally, from @coulson_tom, a "mash-up" bringing the whole bizarre set of scenes together:

SKI SEASON 2012/13: THE BRITISH MARKET

The economic crisis has brought with it a sharp decline in the number of Brits on the pistes, and some quite marked changes in where we go.  The clear winner in this difficult market is Austria - click here for a handy guide to the resorts.

The most comprehensive set of data over time comes from Crystal, who seem to be compiling the information on the market in a reasonably consistent way.  Here's the 2012 report.

The headline is that the total number of British skiers in 2011/12 was 894,700, a 1.8% decline on the previous season.  

However, this compares to 1,227,000 in 2007/8, so we are talking about a 27% fall compared with pre-crisis.  Indeed there are now fewer Brits going skiing than there were in 2000/01, when 921,000 hit the slopes.

Crystal's figures show 57% going with an operator, and 30% travelling independently. They also report a decline in the school market, something which @ernalow highlight as a cause for concern in their analysis of the data.

By county, there are some big changes.  Here's the Top 7 in 2011/12:

La Thuile, Piemonte

1. FRANCE: 34.6%

2. AUSTRIA: 27.9

3. ITALY: 15.4

4. Andorra: 6.5

5. Switzerland: 4.9

6. USA/Canada: 4.5

7. Bulgaria: 2.7

And, back in 2006/7:

1. FRANCE: 37.1

2. AUSTRIA: 19.0

3. ITALY: 13.8

4. Andorra: 11.1

5. USA/Canada: 7.9

6. Switzerland: 5.1

7. Bulgaria: 2.8

By my maths, this means that the total number of skiers going to Austria has risen, from 130,000 to 143,000.  Although their market share is down on 5 years ago, France has improved its relative position, and with the Compagnie des Alpes increasingly in charge of the show, and the quality of accommodation still improving, does look ready to hold its own at the very least.

The picture in Switzerland, on the other hand, is quite acute, with the latest release glumly reporting a 30% fall on 2008/9.  See this report from @Planetski, including details - and a promotional video - of what the Swiss are doing to fight back.  The North Americans, meanwhile, are having a terrible time, and investment in infrastructure is now at its worst for years.  Crystal do report, however, that Whistler is doing well.

Aiguille Rouge, Les Arcs - looking towards Tignes

Another way of looking at this data comes from @skipedia, who recently reported on the total number of skier days - this being the metric used more in Europe as a benchmark. This shows a 17% decline since 2007/8, from 8.5m to 7.1m.

THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER?

The verdict on the 2011/12 season was something like this: OK-ish in the French Alps, not too good in the Pyrenees and shocking in Switzerland: more here.  For the Austrians, the good news is that they are taking market share from their Swiss rivals.  The less good news is that Austria is down 2% on last year.

Les Arcs' lift system is part of the Compagnie des Alpes
portfolio,  and they're doing rather well.    See their results here

As the excellent @adepierrefeu has uncovered, the big news is that France has overtaken the US as the No1 ski country.  This is not the result of a stellar French season in 2011/12 (up a modest 3%); it's due to a drastic fall in the US numbers, down 16%.  The US saw the worst season since 1991-92.  Europe's poor snowfalls of 2010/11 were replicated last year in the States, with 50% of American resorts opening late and 48% closing early - particularly unwelcome when skier numbers will not grow as a "natural result" of growing incomes and optimism about the future.  You can read the release from the US National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) here.

Using these figures, it looks like the recent "evolution" for French skiing, measured by the number of ski days each year, are as follows:

2008/9:    58.5m

2010/11:  53.7m

2011/12:  55.3m

If the decline in France has been halted, things don't seem quite so good the other side of the border, if this summer's figures are anything to go by.  Via @snowslider, we find Swiss hotels registering a 7% fall in hotel stays during July compared with the previous year, with a particularly sharp fall in the Lake Geneva region.  Switzerland is being quite successful in attracting Russian and Chinese visitors, but the numbers remain small, and are yet to offset the decline in visitors from Europe.  It looks like this coming winter could be a difficult one for nos amis Suisses.

Cause for Lucerne?  Hard times for the Swiss tourist industry

THE BUSINESS OF SKIING: The verdict (so far) on 2011/12

It's the final week of the season.  La Plagne is reporting 300cm on top, 125cm at the bottom.  There's been 45cms of fresh snow in the last 7 days and 96/128 pistes open. Despite a dry February and March, 2011/12 has generally seen snow in abundance, and this has to be the best end-of-season for years.

What has this meant for the ski industry?  Many French resorts have been struggling, given the mature state of the market, the high cost of skiing and the ongoing effects of the crisis.  In Switzerland, it's been worse, with the strong franc and an increasingly competitive Austria leaving even star resorts like Saas Fee with a headache.  The official line is that visitors from the eurozone are down, but this has been partially mitigated by the rise in Swiss visitors (for example in the small resorts of St Gall).  The stark reality is that Valais has seen a 6.4% fall in foreign tourists, Grisons 5-6% and at Engelberg 8-12%.

The new(ish) Arpette lift at Les Arcs

If you're interested in all this, the best people to follow on Twitter are: @ausommetfr, @adepierrefeu and @skibatblog, which highlighted this report from Les Echos.  To summarise:

• 150,000 people work in the industry
• Overall, French ski resorts are reporting a 2% rise in skier numbers - after a 5% fall during the poor season that was 2010/11
• It's been a good season for "low cost" resorts like Brides-les-Bains and upmarket resorts like Courchevel (which reports a 6% rise)
• Between the two, the middle-of-the road resorts are doing less well
• One reasonably new "innovation" which is doing well are the 4-hour tickets
• Overall, not too bad.  Now on to see if they can do anything to improve summer visitor numbers.  Which is quite another story

This general view is echoed by the hoteliers.  Their association describes the season as "OK but nothing to write home about".

One to watch will be the results of the Compagnie des Alpes, who have a near monopoly of the big resorts.  These come out on Thursday 26th April.  There's some background here.

In the southern French Alps, which serve a different market to the Northern resorts (Belgium, E and S. Europe, Italy), the initial verdict has been that things are "plutot satisfaisant", which is hardly a ringing endorsement.  

And a pretty similar pattern over in the Pyrenees.  The late start to the season caused problems.  For example, Piau-Engaly lost 30,000 skier days by not being able to open until 18th December (compared with 26th November in 2010).  February was good, but then the weather was warm in March and then snowy just as they were closing....

THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC: Alpine Pop Videos

I am sure there are more, but here are four....in honour of those who felt moved to place their music against an Alpine backdrop.

Star billing, of course, goes to Wham's Last Christmas.  This is the extended, seven minute, version...

For me, the most bizarre of all is The Police doing an alternative Don't Stand So Close To Me video, complete with impeccable Santa mogul-bashing skiers, and Sting stripping off.  Can this be real?

A few years earlier, we find Abba appearing on the BBC's snowtime special, with "What's the Name of the Game".  February 1979, Les Diablerets.  Although in this account of the shoot, Benny says he was born with "skis on his feet", I think the Swiss Ski School might have a word or two to say about their style, shoulders etc....

Also in 1979, and also in Switzerland, we have The Jacksons.  I believe this was shot in Leysin.

And it was 40 years ago that we had Tom Jones in the snow, Walking in a Winter Wonderland.  Can't locate the venue for this one, I'm afraid.