Austria Prepares For 2008/9 Ski Holidays Season

Austria's Innsbruck is one of the best known European ski resorts, with absolutely first class facilities for both experienced and novice skiiers alike.

And Innsbruck isn't resting on her laurels after a terrific 2007/8 season which saw the return of snow after a disastrous year the year before which triggered panic in many ski areas that global warming had arrived with a vengeance - Innsbruck has invested over 50 million Euros in new ski holiday facilities, with a contribution from the Austria government, and is providing a new cable car that will take skiiers direct to the skiing at a breathtaking 7000 feet from the city centre.

In an effort to blend the new infrastructure in with the environment, the stations en route to the ski areas have been designed cleverly to look like natural ice formations.

With many European ski countries seeing a dip in visitor numbers last year for the first time in a decade, many invested in both on and off mountain facilities to try and tempt past and new visitors to take a ski holiday this year, and it paid off.

Ski holiday tourists were up for the 2007/8 season as snow fell heavily and regularly right through to the end of the skiing holidays season in both European and North American ski resorts, and low cost airlines are putting on extra flights for the 2008/9 season.

Several airlines recently announced a plan to encourage more trips to ski resorts by opening up additional routes for travel. These fly passengers directly to the airports that are closest to several of the major skiing destinations for many individuals and families on holiday. For example, Britain's leading low cost airline flies passengers on holiday into Barcelona, which is the nearest airport to Andorra's ski holiday resorts. The snow in Andorra was as good as the weather in Austria this year, and Andorra does well as long as the weather in Andorra holds out.

In addition to the flights taking passengers to ski at Andorra, there are several more flights connecting skiiers to their favourite holiday areas. Flights from London, Glasgow, Bristol, Liverpool, Blackpool and Newcastle to ski areas could see more people taking a ski holiday next year.

The reason airlines have chosen to increase the number of direct routes they provide to ski resorts for the 2008-9 winter holiday period is due to the fact business is booming. As of the end of October, one alone had over 2.5 million bookings for individuals and families wanting their flying services to travel to skiing destinations in Europe during this winter just gone.

Increasing the number of direct routes of these low costs airlines allows even more individuals to book flights for their holiday plans.

Innsbruck is set to gain as much as any ski area as just started are low cost flights six days a week from London's Gatwick Airport to Innsbruck. This weekly schedule will accommodate Britons who want inexpensive travel to a locale that lives and breathes skiing.

Innsbruck is located in the federal state of Tyrol. Located in the Inn Valley between high mountains, it is ideally suited to winter activities and skiing in particular. The name Innsbruck means "the bridge over the Inn". And with its new facility Innsbruck has the best of both the old and modern for anyone thinking of skiing holidays for next winter's ski holidays.