Partly due to the down turn skiing holiday sales went down this season.

This is despite of very good early on sales and brilliant skiing.

This drop in numbers comes after 6 seasons of development in the snowboarding industry, and the numbers fell from 1.2 million in 2008/9 to 950000 last winter.

Partly due to holiday makers giving the season a miss, and additional snowboarders who’d ordinarily take 2 snowboarding vacations, merely had one.

Sales for the independent travel sector fell by 15% and several budget airlines cutting the no. of their routes to some cities.

Moreover tour operators saw the numbers falling by around 15%.

Nevertheless, the top companies share stayed at 72% and the French Alps continued to remain the most visited skiing destination with about 37% of the English ski market.

This meant that several operators cut the total number of luxury chalets they rent this coming winter.

Catered ski chalets will surely see a reduction in holiday makers due to the fact that a luxury catered chalet costs the operator more in terms of hosts and chefs and rent when it is unsold.

It remains unlikely that we shall see the ski deals France which were around last year.

And prices are likely to increase, they are unlikely to increase much.

The next season beyond any doubt poses grave challenges for an industry that is touched by by the events of the depression, fall in the value of the pound, increased fuel costs and large fixed costs for skiing companies.

This winter skiers will become more and more cost sensitive, which shall add to a reversion of recent trends which witnessed a growth in the ski industry.