French Ski Hosting Case Postponed
French Ski Hosting Case Postponed
Published : 08-Nov-2013 07:18
The appeal against a French court decision that 'ski hosting' (also known as 'social skiing') by British tour operator reps was illegal, due to be heard yesterday, 6 November 2013, has been postponed to next May.
The Court of Appeals in Chambery (France) agreed to defer the hearing about social skiing being illegal, to mid-May 2014, at the joint request of both the Ecole du Ski Français (ESF) and tour operator Le Ski which is the British tour operator that the French authorities took to court over the issue.
Both parties concur in considering that the European legal issues raised by the case are complex and require careful examination. This highlights the importance of the decision which the Court will take and of the need to ensure the best possible preparation of such decision by all parties concerned.
Le Ski, which has operated in the French Alps for 30 years bringing tens of thousands of skiers to the slopes, is being supported by most of the leading British tour operators to France including Alpine Elements, Crystal Ski, Inghams, Mark Warner, Neilson, Ski Esprit, Ski Olympic, Ski Total, Skiworld and Thomson in its court battle.
The postponement means that traditional social skiing where a representative from the holiday company takes guests on familiarisation tours of the slopes, show them good lunch spots and how to avoid queues but does not instruct, teach or train the guests, nor go on black runs or off piste will not happen in France this year.
However some operators have arranged alternatives. Crystal is working with a different ski school in some French resorts to provide a similar service to its guests and is positioning non-skiing staff at lifts at other resorts to advise them as required without skiing with them.
The ski hosting issue, which has rumbled on in various guises for several decades, only seems to be an issue in France. Similar schemes operate in other countries around the world without any major problems.
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