Queues at the Ski & Snowboard Show

They were queuing round the corner to get into the London Ski and Snowboard Show as the doors opened at midday yesterday!  Clearly staging the show at half-term is an excellent idea.  Hopefully, it also reflects a renewed interest in ski holidays after several years of families’ belt-tightening and market decline?

Just outside the entrance FamilySkiNews.com caught up with Damien Norman, the show’s organiser and MD of VOS Media.  “It’s great to see queues of families at the door.  We are very excited about this year’s show,” he said. “We feel it’s going to be the best one yet.”

“This year, we have shifted our focus and made the public the heroes of the show.  There are lots of fun things to do and have-a-go features, like the teaching slope and the ice rink,”  Damien continued.  “Holding it at half term, we feel it’s important to provide plenty of interactivity and value for families.”

The show has been moved into a smaller exhibition space – Earls Court Two – this year, and we feel it works much better here, making it an altogether more compact and cosier show!

There are certainly plenty of fun activities at the show.  Here are some of our favourites from day one:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was good to see so many people at the first day of the show, and tour operators reported a steady flow of business too.

At last year’s show, due to unseasonably warm weather, more people were wearing flip-flops than winter jackets.  At least this year, with the Alps already blanketed in snow – over a metre fell in some areas last weekend alone – and resorts opening early on both sides of the pond, everyone seemed more focused on the white stuff!

So, as we start to edge our way gradually out of recession, fingers crossed that this event – traditionally seen as marking the start of the ski season – will reinvigorate interest in skiing and snowboarding in the UK again.