TUI Travel, Britiain’s largest ski operator, has announced that it is cutting back on the number of chalets available for next season. Accommodation choices for skiers will be more limited next season after Britain’s largest ski operator announced that it is reducing the number of chalets it offers by almost half.

TUI Travel group, which owns Crystal, First Choice and Thomson, said this week that it is cutting its number of chalets by 40 per cent.

The move comes after bookings at the group’s ski companies were down 20 per cent last season compared to the previous year.

“The 40 per cent cut is not industry-wide,” said Mathew Prior, managing director of Crystal. “We’ve been more aggressive than anyone else as it is a small part of our programme (amounting to less than 15 per cent). Chalets have a lot of fixed costs — you can renegotiate the lease cost of the chalet, but you still have to pay for staff, food and wine,” he added.

France remained the most popular destination for British skiers last season, despite a 0.5 per cent decline in numbers, while Austria and Italy both saw an increase in the number of Britons visiting their resorts.

Switzerland maintained its position, attracting six per cent of the market, but Andorra’s popularity continued to fall — largely due to an attempt to move into the luxury market — and was down two per cent from the previous year.

The US and Canada also fell in popularity last season partly due to the strength of the dollar against the pound and a cut in flight capacity after the demise of the low-cost airline Zoom.