Posted by the TTG Asia, on 03 July 2023

A growing appreciation for winter sports and a strong desire for holidays in the great outdoors and colder climes have fired up intense interest in winter and ski holidays among Asian travellers, especially those from tropical zones.

Expedia data shows ski holiday bookings last winter season (December 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023) out of Asia have climbed to 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels (December 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020). With ski resort bookings showing an average duration of three nights at least, Expedia believes travellers are staying on longer to ski.

Luxury travel specialist, Scott Dunn, told TTG Asia that Asian enquiries and bookings for ski vacations have spiked 250 per cent in the last ski season, compared to the previous season in 2021/2022.

Koo Ying Ying, Europe travel specialist, Scott Dunn, said the intense interest could be due to travel restrictions being lifted, allowing Asians to get back to planning their long-overdue winter fun.

Asians are also drawn to wintry landscapes, like Lapland and Iceland, and the chance to chase down aurora visions.

“Snow has always been a really strong pull factor for guests from Asia, especially (those living in) tropical climate,” said Koo. “Post-pandemic, we also see that more guests are craving fresh air and longing to be in the great outdoors. The snowy mountains are the perfect place for this, and they also present a very different type of landscape compared to what most of us are accustomed to, which is another factor we think has led to this spike (in winter travel demand).”

When asked if Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022 and Pyeongchang 2018 could have fired up Asian interest in ski holidays, Rachael Harding, CEO for East and South Asia & Pacific at Club Med, said any major events on the world stage could influence consumer behaviour. Through the two Winter Olympics, winter sports as well as the host country are cast into the spotlight.

“The fact that Asia had two Winter Olympics in recent years certainly put the region on the map as a winter playground (and inspired people to see Asia as an option) for mountain holidays,” Harding told TTG Asia.

She added that the games had also created a new pool of young athletes and led to more ski associations opening up in various countries across Asia.

“A big case is the formation of the Ski and Snowboard Association of Thailand in 2016. Thailand is now our most aggressive market to rebound,” she said.

That said, Club Med mountain resorts have seen “this consistent trend for quite some time”, where ski business now contributes a third of total business compared to just 10 per cent in 2015.

Demand is growing year on year and “completely outstripping the capacity that we have”, remarked Harding.

Scott Dunn expects strong bookings to continue into the 2023/2024 season. “We’ve just opened bookings for the next ski season and there is already a healthy level of interest and bookings, especially from big families and groups of friends,” shared Koo.

She believes that customers are moving fast to secure availability and rates “because key dates – such as the Lunar New Year, Christmas and New Year’s Eve, and Easter – get booked up very quickly”.

Not only is ski travel demand returning fast, Koo said traveller profiles are also getting younger.

“Traditionally, we often see families with older children, between 12 and 19 years old. Now, we see a trend of younger families with children aged four to 10 exploring ski holidays,” she said.

Asians are open to snowy adventures all over the world. Expedia noted that Niigata, Japan; Zermatt, Switzerland; Banff, Canada; and Haute-Savoie, France are top ski destinations among Asian travellers. Among Scott Dunn’s customers, France and Italy are hot favourites, while Canada and Switzerland are gaining popularity. New Zealand makes a fine choice too, according to Koo, as it has a great ski season between June and September.

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