Study By The Bavarian Center For Tourism Shows Now Reliability Is Crucial For Choice Of Final Destination
Current selection criteria for a winter holiday in the snow show: For the majority of holidaymakers, snow reliability is crucial for their final destination
What criteria currently play a role for holidaymakers when selecting destinations for a winter holiday in the snow? The Bavarian Center for Tourism (BZT) investigated this question in its latest survey. For this purpose, between November 16th. and December 3rd, 2023, GfK surveyed over 3,000 people representative of the German-speaking population aged 18 to 74.
Strong influence of snow reliability
For three out of four respondents (74 percent), snow reliability is (very) important when choosing a travel destination for a winter holiday in the snow. Nevertheless, 45 percent of Germans who would like to spend their winter vacation in the snow say that the capricious weather in recent years has had no influence on their choice of vacation destination in terms of snow reliability. For 37 percent, however, they did: Due to the uncertainty, they chose a snow-sure holiday destination for snow-related activities. And another 10 percent moved to another vacation spot for non-snow-related activities.
Good accessibility and short waiting times
At the top of the list of important aspects when choosing a travel destination for a winter holiday in the snow are “easy accessibility to the ski area” and “short waiting times at the lifts” for 71 percent of those surveyed. Other points include the “large selection of slopes” (68 percent), a “low price for the ski pass” (64 percent), “state-of-the-art lifts” (62 percent) and “snow-making on the slopes” (59 percent).
No snow and then what?
But what do holidaymakers do if there is no snow at the destination where they want to spend their winter (sports) stay? 30 percent of those surveyed said they would definitely go to this holiday destination and do alternative activities there. Another 14 percent also go there with the hope of still being able to do winter sports. And another 17 percent intend to travel at another time when there is more snow security. Three out of ten respondents even want to move to another holiday destination where there will definitely be snow. And: One percent want to stop winter sports completely.
