Many naysayers are predicting a slow ski season simply because of global warming and increasing fuel costs.

The 2006-2007 British ski market saw a three per cent increase despite challenging snow conditions and fuel prices. Three per cent may not sound like a large number, but the numbers are astounding. The 2005-2006 ski season saw approximately 921,000 Brits take a ski holiday. The total of skiers rose in the 2006-2007 season to 1.19 million.

Let’s face it; we, as human beings, love to pamper ourselves from time to time with a holiday. Die-hard skiers are not going to let the possibility of poor snowfall or fuel prices stand in their way of a ski holiday. They know their favourite resorts will have things taken care of. On the other hand, people who have been dreaming of a ski holiday for years aren’t going to let poor conditions stop them either. People, in general, will do what they want, no matter what the conditions.

Crystal Ski Holidays knows this to be true. They aren’t worried about losing business. They know how to take care of their customers. They see a lot of repeat visitors year after year. The 2006-2007 ski-season suffered from low snowfall and high fuel costs. High-elevation resorts, like several of Crystal’s resorts, had no problems with low snowfall.

France continues to be the most popular ski holiday getaway with just over 37% of UK skiers enjoying chalet and club hotel holidays. Two contributing factors also aided France’s popularity in the 2006-2007 ski season: the first being a difficult start to the season because of a late-starting winter yielding low snowfall to start; the second factor being a late Easter. Many skiers enjoy taking a lengthy ski holiday during Easter break. France is home to some of the higher-altitude ski resorts, so they have more snow earlier and later in the season. Some predict similar challenges for the 2007-2008 ski season.

Crystal Holidays is prepared to face these challenges head-on by helping in the fight against global warming. During the 2006-2007 ski season, Crystal Ski Holidays was the first major operator to offer their customers the opportunity to participate in a programme to offset the carbon emissions created by their flights. Crystal has signed on to the “carbon neutral” scheme with The CarbonNeutral Company.

CarbonNeutral makes investments globally in projects like solar, hydro and wind farms in a massive effort to cut back on greenhouse gases. Many of Crystal’s customers are more than happy to join in with donations and support for the cause.

Many of the greatest ski destinations are jump-starting their ski conditions by making their own snow early in the season. This will give natural snow a great blanket to stick to. Some of the higher elevation areas are already seeing a nice amount of natural snowfall in countries like Austria and Andorra. Resorts in these areas are generally booked months in advance and don’t let things like negative predictions hold them back from having a great ski season.

No worries, ski enthusiasts! Your favourite ski destinations will welcome you with man-made snow this season if natural snow is slow. The bigger ski resorts have invested in several snow cannons over the years. Several of these snow cannons are working overtime until nature catches up. They have also build reservoirs to aid in snow production during slow-snowfall months.

The 2007/8 European ski season looks set to be one of the best yet!