A French court has banned ‘ski hosts’ employed by tour operators from showing new guests around French ski slopes when they arrive in resort.
The disagreement between the French ski school and tour operators has been going on for decades in various forms but has recently resurfaced with a new legal move, targeting the British tour operator Le Ski, which has been bringing skiers to the French Alps for 30 years. Le Ski are appealing the ruling supported by other tour operators, including the biggest, Crystal, who issued a statement,
“Crystal Ski is disappointed …We have temporarily suspended our social skiing service in France whilst this process goes through the courts. We have never seen social skiing as a replacement for a ski school as social skiing is where a representative from the holiday company takes guests on familiarisation tours of the slopes, show them good lunch spots and how to avoid the queues. They do not go on black runs or off piste and stick to gentle slopes. No instruction is given.”
The national French Ski School, the ESF, which has become the subject of increasingly negative comment on internet ski sites, the gist of which are that the move is more about protectionism of French ski school jobs than about safety, has sought to distance itself from responsibility for the French court decision.
“This is not an ESF led court action, but the organisation has rightly shown its support for French law to be upheld and that for those organisations using hosting or other personnel to ‘guide’ such people must possess a valid qualifications to do so. ESF is committed to ensuring the safety of UK tourists using French resorts for winter sports. ” said an ESF statement.
Le Ski says it will appeal.