27th March 2012
In the budget last week the chancellor announced that he was reducing VAT on ski lifts in Scottish resorts. The cut will result in cheaper lift passes next winter, and hopefully result in an increase of visitors next season.
This is good news for Scotland, especially after the poor winter they have had which saw drops of up to two thirds in visitor numbers. Anything that helps increase visitors to the resorts is good news for season workers interested in ski jobs closer to home.
21st March 2012
After 20 years of discussions, The British Columbia government has approved plans to create a year round glacier based ski resort.
The Jumbo Glacier Alpine Resort will be located in the Purcell Mountains, and feature 23 lifts, a 3000 metre high gondola and a ski village. Building the resort is expected to take 2 years, and create 750 permanent resort jobs.
Although the government has given the green light to the project, funding still needs to be found, and there is local opposition to the plans.
20th March 2012
Chalet operators and winter holiday companies are having a great season, not only has Europe had some of the best snow in the last 10 years, but bookings by corporate clients are also up.
Powder White have reported their best ever season for corporate bookings and enquiries, with companies taking over whole chalets for team building or staff incentives.
This is also good news for anyone thinking about doing a ski job next season, as more bookings means more guests, which means more staff will be required.
9th March 2012
Pakistan's Malam Jabba resort, the country's only ski resort, has been celebrating a week long snow festival.
The resort in the Swatt Valley was destroyed in 2009 by the Taliban but is now open again and welcoming visitors.
It might be a while before there are large numbers of ski jobs available there, but it's good to see the resort reopened once again.
2nd March 2012
The EU are discussing plans to make it easier for British ski instructors to get work in France.
France has always been a popular place to work for British ski instructors, but it's never been that easy, but now Europe is about to change all that. The European Union are currently discussing plans for a 'Eurocard' that will make it easier for certain professionals (including ski instructors) to work in any European country.
As you can imagine, the French instructors aren't happy about the proposed changes, but if you're a BASI qualified ski instructor, you might have something to be thankful to our friends in Brussels for!