Only last winter, our most popular wintersports destinations were effectively closed – and if you wanted to take the kids skiing to a country that was actually open, you faced the extra hassle and cost of Covid tests.

Hopefully there will be none of that this winter, but operators hoping for sales approaching 2019 levels will be nervously eyeing currency rates and the cost of living crisis. Optimists put the total UK ski market at about 1.2 million, although the reality is likely lower. Nevertheless, ski holidays are upscale purchases worth chasing by agents.

Last season was stop-start – Omicron wrecked the market, while France didn’t relax testing until mid-February. In Austria, it was early March. Extending the season helped, but there wasn’t the post-pandemic bounce many operators had hoped for.

Inghams started last winter with capacity down more than a third on the 2019, but reported strong demand – extending its season well into mid-April. “If we hadn’t had January, we would have had our best year ever,” said John Mansell, Inghams’ chief operating officer. “The demand that came back after France opened was unbelievable. We had no discounted holidays last year.

“This season has so far seen no cost of living worries among consumers,” Mansell continued. “We’ve been ahead of pre-Covid and continued to sell all through summer. People seem to be upscaling spend – Canada is up 100%; we’re seeing more upmarket resorts selling really well and January is really good.”

Inghams put 90,000 holidays on sale pre-pandemic, but will this year start with 50,000. “We’re slowly looking to increase numbers,” said Mansell. “We decided not to increase volume too much as we may still be impacted by Covid. We’ve increased capacity by 5%, but pre-Covid we took 30,000 chalet beds out of the programme and we’ve not put them back due to Brexit issues.”

Tight supply is a worry for ski specialist Helen Furlong, a Co-op Personal Travel Agent. Rebookings from last season and the loss of accommodation to other countries have brought difficulties, she said. “It’s cutting into capacity and has particularly affected group bookings; the stock isn’t there and the group discounts aren’t there. There are some challenges getting what we are looking for.”

Furlong said she had noticed some price resistance, but attributes this to some skiers not having travelled for four years and baulking at price increases.

Skiworld marketing manager Rob Dixon also highlighted value as an issue. “We’re seeing strong demand for our catered chalet product, as this includes flights, transfers, meals and unlimited wine – there are no surprises,” he said.

“We recently added a few more catered chalets for 2022/23 in resorts such as Val d’Isere, Tignes and Les Arcs, as dates like Christmas and February half-term are already at 75% occupancy.”

Divided market

Resort choice is also being affected, he said. “We have seen people booking ‘secondary level’ resorts such as Les Menuires. It’s in the Three Valleys but much cheaper than famous resorts like Meribel, Courchevel and Val Thorens.

“Clients less affected by cost of living increases are still making big bookings in top resorts – the market is split between those on lower incomes looking for value, and more affluent customers still booking top properties.”

Dixon said some properties have been put on stop-sell by suppliers as they have been taken by other nations.

Cathy Rankin, UK sales director at accommodation specialist Pierre & Vacances, made a similar observation. “The French market is strong domestically,” she said.

“Supply is less than in previous years. From a UK point of view, there’s fewer chalets and club hotels. There were also a lot of early UK bookings from people who didn’t travel last year.”

P&V expects UK sales to be roughly level with last winter, which was 10% up on winter 2019. Unusually, supply may not be an issue in the festive period as Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve fall on Saturday – departure day for operators – with the latter an unpopular choice, particularly for families with children returning to school later that week.

“I think we will see some lates for new year because of the departure times,” said Furlong.

With supply looking tight, these might be the only bargains to be had this winter.