Operators are threatening to cut ski capacity in Austria after authorities enforced a new minimum wage for foreign staff, a year after Switzerland adopted similar measures.
British travel companies are concerned that they will have to pay their estimated 500 staff in Austria the local hotel industry minimum wage of around €1,000 (£790) a month, even though Britons are partly paid in kind with board and lodging.
Austria is moving to conform to EU rules introduced to prevent the abuse of foreign labour by paying them less than nationals of the EU state in which they work.
The Swiss measures, which were announced this year, added to pressure on British winter holiday operators who have been facing resistance for decades in France, Italy and other destinations over the employment of Britons.
More than 400,000 British tourists went skiing last year in the Austrian Alps, the fifth-largest foreign contingent after Germans, Dutch, Swiss and Italians.
The Austrian action will have an impact on British companies which operate chalets with expatriate staff.
Companies including Inghams, Esprit Ski, Ski Total and VIP, which run their own accommodation, say the new rules complying with EU regulations against “social dumping” will force them to consider reducing their operations.
Andy Perrin, head of Hotelplan UK, which owns Inghams, Ski Total and Ski Esprit, told the Sunday Telegraph: “We first heard about this a fortnight ago and we are trying to make sense of it.
“We take extreme exception to the suggestion that we are wage dumping. On the salary packages that we offer, what our staff have in their pockets is considerably more than anyone on the minimum wage in the UK.”
The Austrian measure allows for fines of up to €10,000 per employee if the companies do not adhere to the amended legislation.
Operators are hoping to negotiate a delay in the introduction of the new regulations, to avoid closing chalet programmes as they have done in Switzerland for this season.
Fraser Ewart-White, co-founder of Powder White, told MailOnline Travel: “These highly damaging proposals would lead to a large increase in employment costs, which could see the cost of a family ski holiday to Austria rise by up to £140, jeopardising Austria’s position as a value destination.
“We are working with other ski operators to challenge these plans which, if passed, will affect the viability of providing good value chalet holidays in Austria and would hurt the Austrian tourism industry immensely.’
Ewart-White estimated that staff costs could increase by up to 46% over the nine chalets his company runs in the Austrian resort of St Anton.
The introduction of the new laws in Switzerland forced many companies to close down their offerings there.
Ulrike Rauch- Keschmann, of the Austrian Tourist Board, said the new regulations were aimed at making it easier to prosecute social security fraud by employers but ski operators should by law have already been paying the minimum wage.