New Campaign Poster
Fancy an après ski drink? The Foreign Office believe that a campaign they launched last winter outlining the dangers of having one too many on your ski holiday helped prevent any deaths last winter, after a succession of sad stories in previous winters when people apparently got lost in resort after drinking and died of exposure.
The message of the campaign, which will be publicised through posters in resort bars and restaurants and on information site in tour operator run accommodation, is that drinking alcohol at altitude is likely to affect your body more quickly and that ski resorts are potentially dangerous places, even off the slopes, increasing your risk.
A secondary message is the importance of insurance, but also that insurance can be invalidated if you are drunk.
Leading British tour operators including Crystal Ski, Inghams, Thomson Ski, First Choice Ski, Neilson as well as student specialists Off the Piste and Ski Alpine have agreed to collaborate.
"Following the successful safety awareness initiative to tackle alcohol misuse in ski resorts which helped ensure there were no serious incidents last season reported by British tour operators, we've decided to continue with this campaign this coming winter as well as the campaign for the necessity of full travel insurance cover." Said a statement from UK Tour Operators who are working with the Foreign Office and various bodies abroad on the information campaign,
As last year the campaign is being supported by ski resorts and regions in several Alpine countries but not all. Notable exceptions include low priced alcohol centres in Andorra, Bulgaria and Italy's Lombardy as well as the après-ski hedonism centres of Austria, however police and rescue services, tourist offices and airports in the regions of Savoie, Haute Savoie, Isère and Rhône in France as well as Piemonte and Veneto in Italy and the leading German and French speaking ski resorts in Switzerland are taking part.
Lynda St Cooke from the Foreign Office's travel safety campaign 'Know Before You Go ' said: "This is the second year we have worked with our partners to create this safety campaign. It's not about spoiling people's fun, but reminding British skiers that prevention is always better than cure and that not having appropriate travel insurance can be a very expensive mistake. Even if you have insurance you can invalidate policies by drinking. Over the years there have been a number of preventable winter sports accidents where people have underestimated the effects of alcohol on their judgement and we all need to remember, it can affect us more at high altitudes."