One reason is a favourable schedule of school holidays.
Travel agents are grateful to Croatia’s educational authorities which have decided to abandon last year’s experiment, when winter school holidays ended in the middle of a week, which prevented many families from travelling abroad for a traditional week of skiing, reports Večernji List on October 21, 2017.
They are convinced that is the main reason for the growth of sales of winter skiing trips. The sales have grown between 10 and 15 percent compared to last year. “The fact that the beginning of the second school term was in the middle of the week certainly turned some people away from going on skiing holidays. Although schools were ready to let children go, parents didn't want their children to lag behind in their classes,” said the skiiing holiday travel agents.
However, this winter many Croatian skiers will traditionally spend a week or two in Austrian and Italian ski resorts. According to the information provided by the Kompas travel agency, which has seen an 11 percent increase in skiing holiday scales this year, the most sought-after destinations are Matrei and Sillian in Austria and Passo Tonale in Italy. Of course, the list of favourite ski resorts among Croats is much longer, with people also going to Nassfeld, Katschberg, Bad Kleinkirchheim, Kronplatz, and many other resorts.
Kompas say they have noticed a growing interest in travellers for some of the more exclusive destinations such as Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Corvara, La Villa, Livigno, and St. Moritz. Atlas will even organise a direct charter flight from Zagreb for the opening of the ski season in Val d'Isere, Megeve, Val Thorens and Meribel.
“After a successful tourist season in Croatia, which brought us the growth of between 30 and 40 percent, we expect a lot from the winter holidays as well, partly because the Croatian ski week is accompanied by well-scheduled school holidays, which is crucial for many of our clients. We're particularly pleased to be able to offer a direct charter flight to French resorts, which will stop the trend of positioning France as a low-budget ski destination for Croatian skiers,” said Tomislav Varga, the CEO of the Atlas travel agency.
Prices in European ski resorts are as diverse as last year, depending on the type of accommodation, the quality and on the destination itself. The average price of spending seven days in a three-star hotel is around 2,400 to 2,500 kunas per person. Apartments are somewhat cheaper, with seven-day stays starting at a thousand kunas per person. There is virtually no upper limit, so prices in some of the most exclusive hotels can reach tens of thousands of euros.
Translated from Večernji List.
