I am just beginning to hear back from jobs I applied for for the upcoming season and I am so happy that I will be joining the Mark Warner team in France this season as a Winter Host! I am so excited and cannot wait to get back out on snow! You may wonder what the position of Winter Host, well it has replaced Ski Hosting. Sadly last year due to a court case with Le Ski, a British tour operator, at the centre, the French authorities banned Ski Hosting. It is a massive shame for British tour operators as it was a brilliant part of the service that they offered on their holidays. However there is an appeal that is being heard on the 4th of September.
A lot of the information that is available on the internet is very British biased, there are two sides to the story. The french are looking for protection and qualification when it comes to ski hosting or guiding and the lack of this has caused them to feel the need to ban it. The infamous speed test that must be completed in order to qualify to become a ski instructor in France is, whether you agree with it or not, to protect their clients and ensure that instructors are a very high level of skier. I personally do not believe a speed test is the way to achieve this, however I admire the attempt to ensure a high quality to their instructors. The same idea is therefore being applied to the way they see ski hosting. The host should not instruct at any point, they should however hold an instructor’s qualification, this ensures the knowledge and understanding just an experienced skier would not have. This is very important when you are responsible for other people on the mountain. We often forget that skiing is an extreme sport and that it can be dangerous when precautions aren’t taken. However I think with further legislation and strict guidelines, ski hosting could be successfully reintroduced to France. It not only helps British TOs but also the French tourist industry, where without hosting it will perhaps suffer as tourists holiday elsewhere in order to receive this service.
Watch this space, you never know what will happen in September. Fingers crossed my job description will change from Winter to Ski hosting!
If you want to read more here are a couple of articles:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/snowandski/skiing-news/10830825/Ski-host-ban-hearing-delayed-again.html
http://www.snowplaza.co.uk/blog/5789-the-latest-on-the-le-ski-court-case-and-the-ski-hosting-ban/
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