| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 03/07/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 2 |
| Copyright: Other |
Millennium hype impacts on market
Report shows fall in 2000 ski bookings
Report by MATTHEW HAMPTONAND TANYA JEFFERIES
THOMSON, First Choice and Neilson all under-performed against a general decline of 12% in the ski market last winter, according to the Ski Industry Report 2000.Crystal Holidays, Inghams and Airtours also saw a downturn but still managed to perform above the industryaverage.
Unveiling the ski report in London last week, Crystal managing director Debbie Marshall said all operators had suffered from millennium hype that did not bear fruit in terms of passengers but some had recovered better than others.
“From Crystal’s point of view, we had a fantastic comeback in February and March. We had a burst of late-season activity and promotions,” she said.
“Inghams was aggressively priced for its early millennium bookings and it got a good lead and managed to cling onto it. Thomson slightly underperformed the market. Its brochure wasn’t out as early. Some operators caught up better thanothers.”
Meanwhile, Marshall claimed that Neilson’s recent forecast of a further 15% decline in the ski market next winter was overly pessimistic (Travel Weekly, June 12).
She said Crystal was up 8% and Thomson up 5% and First Choice and Airtours were also reported to have bookings ahead of this time last year. The late timing of Easter next year is the only potentially negative factor for next season, she insisted.
“There are an awful lot of people who didn’t ski last winter and we believe they can’t wait to get back onto the slopes,” said Marshall.
“Our early statistics are a good indicator of this belief.”
She added that sterling was at a 10-year high against European currencies.
Crystal’s annual ski report identified the emergence of the Internet as a major challenge for the industry.
Marshall said it had great potential for ski operators and noted that an estimated 61% of Crystal clients have access to the Internet. By 2005, 15%of ski holidays will be booked on-line although half of the recent dot-com start-ups will have fallen out of the market by then through lack of product and funding, she predicted.
Downward slope: the ski market has suffered but is now recovering