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Online sales stagnate in ski market
The UK snowsports market has grown 2% to 1.23 million with the independent sector largely behind the increase, according to the Ski Club of Great Britain.
But online bookings have surprisingly remained static as skiers look for the personal touch.
In its annual analysis of the market, the Ski Club said independent skiers and boarders made up 21% of the 2005/05 market with 259,000 customers, a 6% rise on the previous season.
Tour operators still made up the bulk however with 970,000 clients travelling on a package, up 1%.
The Ski Club said cheap flights were behind the trend for independent travel.
“There are more budget airline routes than ever before,” the report stated. “The competition among airlines to transport skiers and boarders is more intense than ever before. The result is that off-peak flights are very competitively priced.”
And not just low cost carriers, it added. Scheduled airlines are also locked in a price war, bringing down air fares.
Online sales during the 2004/05 season remained static at 8% with the largest rise coming from telephone sales which soared seven percentage points to capture 43% of the market.
High Street travel agent sales dropped from 25% to 18%.
The report said people were moving from the high street but not necessarily to the Internet as predicted.
“It may have been expected that some of these high street sales would have been converted to online or email bookings,“ the Ski Club of Great Britain wrote in its report.
“However, making a change from face-to-face personal service of a travel agent to the more perceived anonymity of online bookings may be too great a leap for many holidaymakers who still feel more confident speaking to someone about their holiday requirements.”
The Internet, it said, was widely-used but as a research tool rather than for bookings.
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