Searching for Skiing
24th March 2022
Last modified on March 27th, 2022
The ski operator allChalets reports a growing interest in skiing as travel rules and local Covid-19 restrictions ease. It also claims the Beijing Winter Olympics has provided a boost. It has been crunching the numbers.
allChalets.com says it’s “thrilled that the industry is once again edging toward normality” and it has decided to dive into the data behind this latest surge in interest.
Where in the UK has experienced the biggest increase in interest?
Which destinations are people most interested in?
allChalets has been looking at the data for internet searches for the word ‘skiing’.
Searching for Skiing
It’s comes as no surprise that general search interest for ‘skiing’ increased sharply from mid-December to early January.
Comparing January 2022 to January 2021, search interest was up 125%.
“While this is encouraging, it’s still less overall search interest when compared to pre-COVID levels,” said allChalets.com.
January 2019 saw 143,000 average monthly searches in the UK for ‘skiing’, whereas January 2022 experienced a much less, at 106,000 average monthly searches.
“The 2022 Winter Olympics undoubtedly helped to boost these numbers, so it’s clear we’re still not at pre-covid search interest levels,” it added.
Usually, interest tails off from January into February, but thanks to the 2022 Winter Olympic games, search interest reached the highest point in over two years with 132,000 average monthly searches.
Most Popular Skiing Destinations
Searching for Skiing
When looking at the destinations that UK skiers are searching for, France dominated the overall interest, which again may come as no surprise.
Austria came in at 2nd, with Bulgaria and Switzerland experiencing very similar levels of interest during January’s peak period.
Searching for Skiing
On a more granular level, Scotland searchers showed the most interest in France, followed by Austria and Bulgaria.
England is the only region that showed notable interest in skiing in Switzerland, and interestingly, Northern Island was the only location that expressed more interest in skiing in Austria over France.
Which Regions Experienced the Biggest Surge in Skiing Interest?
When looking at which areas of the UK have the highest search interest in ‘skiing’ since the beginning of December until March, there’s some surprising results.
England has the highest level of search interest overall, followed by Wales, and Northern Ireland and Scotland are joint 3rd.
On a more granular level, the below table highlights the cities/towns/villages across the UK that experienced the highest level of interest in skiing over the last few months.
Location
Search Interest:
Purton – 100
Chesham – 100
Ledbury – 81
Sunningdale – 73
Altrincham – 62
Lechlade-on-Thames – 61
Pen-y-fai – 61
North Berwick – 57
Thames Ditton – 56
Fort William – 55
Maidenhead – 53
Loggerheads – 51
Claygate – 51
Twyford- 51
Camberley – 49
Ingliston- 49
West Horsley – 48
Richmond – 46
Chalfont Saint Peter – 45
West Wittering – 45
Brookmans Park – 43
Ludlow – 42
Crockenhill – 42
Haslemere – 42
Saint Leonards – 41
Writtle – 41
Dunstable – 40
Henley-on-Thames – 40
Long Ashton – 40
Goostrey – 40
Churchdown – 39
Balsall Common – 39
Blackrod – 39
Ellesmere – 38
Ketton – 38
Much Hadham – 37
Gerrards Cross – 36
Sevenoaks – 35
Knaresborough – 35
Flackwell Heath – 35
Weybridge – 35
Saint Ives – 35
Windermere – 34
Hedge End – 34
Faringdon – 33
Godalming – 33
Burley – 33
Great Bookham – 32
Aldbourne – 32
Honiton – 32
Henfield – 31
Welford – 31
New Alresford – 29
Winchester – 27
Purton, just outside of Swindon, and Chesham, Northwest of London experienced the highest level of overall search interest.
While there are many recognisable locations, the smaller areas that have shown impressive interest are the most surprising.
These values are calculated on a scale from 0 – 100, where 100 is the location with the most popularity as a fraction of total searches in that location.
This is useful for gauging overall interest in skiing without the data being skewed by overall population.
The reason for these areas to experience spikes is hard to gauge.
Searches for ‘ski holidays’ paints a similar picture, and it could be due to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics exposing more people to the sport.
One interesting factor is the proximity of indoor ski centres around most of the top 10 locations.
Purton, Chesham, Ledbury, Altrincham & Lechlade-on-Thames can all access popular indoor ski centres within a 35-minute drive.
“Couple this with the industry as a whole experiencing levels of demand not seen since before COVID, and there’s no doubt that there will be newcomers to the slopes as we approach Easter,” said allChalets.
About allChalets
allChalets aims to offer the largest selection of ski accommodation and ski holidays from the widest possible range of providers.
It lists properties from a range of sources including;
- Private ski chalet owners
- Small independent chalet companies
- Self-catered ski apartment owners
- Boutique catered chalet providers
- Larger ski holiday tour operators
It covers all the main ski resorts in France, Austria, Italy and Switzerland and also has a few interesting option in USA and Canada.
allChalets is a member of the Travel Trust Association and it provides 100% financial protection for Customers
