The 7th annual London International Ski Trade Exchange took place at The Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead early this year.
The following stats came from the annual SportPursuit and Weski research by Duplare:
- The UK ski market is estimated to be 1 million regular skiers and 1 million who identify as skiers
- 95% of under-35s prefer to book their ski holidays online
- Most Important Booking Triggers for UK Skiers are:
– Discounts
– Availability
– Value added
– Snow - 20% of under-35s have never bought ski equipment
- Airbnb has increased from 10% to 29% as most popular form of accommodation for ski holidays
- Under-35s prefer to book apartments or self-catered chalets, closely followed by Airbnb (rather than catered chalets)
- 63% of UK skiers booked with a tour operator – up from 58% in 2018
- Under-35s would be more likely to book with a tour operator if their online booking system was better
- 24% of skiers say Brexit will have a ‘significant impact’ on their snowsports holiday decisions, 43% ‘some impact’ and 33% ‘none at all’
- 26% of respondents have been to an indoor snow slope in the UK in the last year
Vicky Gosling, CEO of GB Snowsports, outlined their plans for the next few years:
- The goal is to be a top 5 Olympic and Paralympic nation by 2030 in terms of total medals won by skiers and snowboarders
- This would probably require Team GB to win five medals overall, compared with one medal in 2014 and two medals in 2018, to overtake countries like France, Italy and China
- Gosling revealed that GB Snowsports is shortly to announce a partnership with a Formula 1 team
And as a pointer to a more sustainable future…
- LISTEX announced they will be introducing virtual meetings for the 2020 event.
‘Attendees’ will be able to meet on pre-arranged video calls and attend forum sessions via a webinar
