The latest stage of the on-going dispute between many of the leading British ski tour operators to France and French authorities is emerging as tour operators begin to announce their plans for 2013-14.
The dispute – which had been quietly rumbling on for decades – came to a head last season when French authorities, with the support of the main French Ski school the Ecole du ski Francais, questioned a ski host working for tour operator Le Ski and charged the company with employing a ‘ski guide’ without acceptable ski guiding qualifications.
Ski guiding without full French qualifications breaks French law but Le Ski, and the other tour operators who offer the service to their clients, says the service they provide is ‘ski hosting’ or ‘social skiing’ in which their staff, who are not paid as guides, show their clients around the local slopes as an orientation tour without instructing or going on to steeper slopes.
The leading tour operator, Crystal, has decided that for 2013-14, while the issue is now moving through the courts, rather than offering social skiing, their reps will be on hand at major lifts at the start of the day to assist Crystal Ski customers.
”This doesn’t break any law therefore no compromise is necessary, nor does social skiing, that’s what we’re trying to convey at the court case,” said a company spokesperson.
The next court session, which follows an initial hearing in the spring which found against Le Ski, has been announced for early November in Chambéry.
Le Ski will be supported by Alpine Elements, Crystal Ski, Inghams, Mark Warner, Neilson, Ski Esprit, Ski Olympic, Ski Total, Skiworld, Thomson Ski.
The ski hosting issue is believed to be only a problem in France. The tui group which runs Crystal Ski and Thomson Ski say they offer social skiing in over 90 resorts that in all other countries apart from France.
