The appeal of the mountains reaches new heights

By all accounts, the 2023-2024 winter season was an excellent one. In light of overall occupancy rates for the 2024 winter holidays of 83%, up 3.5 points on the previous year for all types of accommodation in resorts, the National Association of Mayors of Mountain Resorts declared “the widely confirmed success of mountain holidays.”

Domaines Skiables de France notes that “cumulative attendance at ski resorts just before the spring holidays was 2% higher than last winter and 4% higher than in the three previous winters, excluding Covid-19.” Méribel, with over 1.8 million overnight stays, considers the 2023-2024 season to be “the best recorded for ten years.” As for Les Contamines, the number of skier days exceeded 500,000 for the first time ever.

A record number of visitors is also reflected in the accommodation market, with Cimalpes, the leader in luxury mountain properties, recording a 23% increase in bookings this year, with occupancy rates reaching 95% during the New Year week and 83% in February.

THE FRENCH ALPS, THE EPICENTRE OF WINTER SPORTS

The National Association of Mayors of Mountain Resorts estimates that while this growth in visitor numbers has been driven by healthy international customer numbers recorded since the start of the season (+13.4%), particularly from the UK and Belgium, French customers have not been outdone.

Over the season as a whole, Savoie Mont-Blanc recorded 39.3 million overnight stays, 67% of which were French (commercial accommodation) and 33% international (34% British, 8% Belgian, 4% Dutch). The National Association of Mayors of Mountain Resorts also notes that, in international resorts, the winter was marked by the return of European holidaymakers (Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom for the most part), not forgetting emerging epiphenomena with the arrival of Brazilians, Americans, and tourists from the Middle East.

MARCH’S INTER-HOLIDAY PERIOD FULLY BOOKED

Another encouraging figure was observed during the March 2024 inter-holiday period. With an “average occupancy rate of 62% over the four weeks of the period, it is up 5.5 points on the average for the five weeks of the previous year,” according to G2A Consulting. This fantastic result is linked to the heavy snowfall at the beginning of March, which boosted bookings, with last-minute occupancy up by nearly 6 points over the period.

These good snow conditions, combined with a favourable calendar with an earlier Easter weekend and school holidays for several international customer bases, created a positive context for the mountain resorts. With a 16.5-point increase in occupancy, the week of 23-29 March, which included the holidays of British customers, recorded the strongest growth of the season.

Lastly, while skier figures have held up remarkably well, with the number of people visiting ski resorts 4% higher compared with the three previous winters (excluding Covid-19), the average time spent skiing is now 3.6 hours a day. Non-skiing activities are also on the rise, including walking (+61%), entertainment (+52%), and children’s activities (+45%). Proof that our customers are looking beyond skiing when they visit the mountains.