The Belgian breakdown assistance service Touring reported a 7% rise in calls made during the Christmas period, reaching a total of 3,391. The majority of these calls came from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Spain.
As a result, on-site service interventions by the organisation increased by 12% to a total of 1,362. Austria recorded the highest number of interventions, followed by Spain and France. Also of note were incidents in Thailand, Egypt, and the United States.
Snow quality impacted accident rates last skiing season, but this time the number of cases remained almost the same, with a slight increase of 3%. Calls for technical breakdowns stayed constant with the numbers from the Christmas period of 2022-2023.
Issues with electric vehicles increased, accounting for 2.6% of all technical interventions – more than double the number in 2022. Fewer incidents were reported in France and Germany, but there were increases in Austria and the Netherlands. Tyre and wheel failures remained the top issues.
Interestingly, almost one in five breakdown services requested through VAB were made online. However, the organisation observed that Belgian customers were still too quick to use their phones when requesting service online can help avoid long wait times on the phone.
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Europ Assistance – an international tourists' travel insurer – recorded the same number of skiing medical incidents in the Alps at the end of the Christmas period compared to last year. Medical case numbers grew slightly (by 2%) in sunnier destinations. As for European destinations, Spain (including the Canary Islands), France, and Italy saw the most medical emergencies according to Europ Assistance.
Between 22 December 2023 and 4 January 2024, the number of overseas technical interventions relating to ski trips declined by 4% from last year. Improved road conditions have been credited for the decrease.
Exceptions to this were noted in “non-ski destinations” where there was a small rise in foreign technical incidents over the previous Christmas period. France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, and Spain were the most common places where incidents were reported.
