This winter’s ski season has largely been wiped out by Covid-19 travel restrictions, one of the UK’s largest winter sports operators conceded today.
Hotelpan UK, which runs brands such as Inghams, Ski Total and Flexiski, has cancelled holidays until Easter.
The company has progressively been suspending trips over the course of the winter.
Chief executive Joe Ponte has now admitted that the worsening crisis brought on by the pandemic made the prospect of trips this season looking “less and less likely”.
Confirming that March departures were now cancelled, he said: “Since travel restrictions are set to remain while countries continue to manage the spread of Covid-19 and the rollout of vaccines, we have this week sadly suspended our Inghams, Ski Total and Flexiski holidays until 2 April 2021.
“Of course, we are disappointed for all those impacted by this news. We hope our customers with a booking in March of this year will choose to join us at a later date, but they can choose to have a refund if they want one.”
Ponte added: “We absolutely want to help skiers return to the mountains as soon as it is safe to do so, but as the Covid-19 crisis continues to worsen, we are facing the reality that it is sadly looking less and less likely.
“We understand that many skiers are very keen to get skiing again this winter.
“With this in mind, while we think there is still a possibility that ski holidays could go ahead this season, we will continue to monitor the ever-changing situation closely and keep our customers informed of any updates regarding the remainder of this winter, as soon as we can.
“For those customers concerned about their booking for this April, they can feel confident that we will continue to look to do the right thing by them – and we have already delayed taking final balance payments until four weeks prior to departure.
“They are also able to move their holiday to next winter with zero amendment fee if they wish.”
The company is continuing to see strong booking numbers for next winter across its 2021-22 winter programme.
“The combined Hotelplan UK brands are already over 45% sold for next winter, well ahead of the same period last year, so people should think about their plans for the next winter now to avoid disappointment,” Ponte said.