Australian ski resorts unite to fight New Zealand

WITH road conditions in New Zealand described as "death-defying", Aussie resorts have joined together to offer amazing deals.

Girl skiing

AUSTRALIA'S ski resorts have joined together to fight growing competition from New Zealand, offering 1000 beginner ski passes and lessons for just $1 each in an unprecedented move.

All nine Australian resorts - which have previously been highly competitive -signed up to offer the deal.

To receive the passes, which are valid on lifts suitable for first-time skiers, you have to register with the Snow Australia Club at snow-australia.com from August 21 to 27.

The deal is valid for travel in Spring, from September 12 to 18.

Snow Australia CEO Colin Hackworth said the roads in New Zealand were "death defying'', flights there were often interrupted due to poor weather and you cannot stay on snow there.

But he said his organisation's primary focus was not to "spitefully have a crack at New Zealand'' but to "bring Australia to front of mind'' for snow holidays.

"It's a great opportunity for people to discover snow sports and try something new,'' he said.

"For the first time ever the industry has got together and done some collective marketing this year.

"The resorts have previously competed against each other and competed against New Zealand - this is now a collective effort where there's no strings attached.

"If we can increase our market share against New Zealand then so be it.''

Mr Hackworth said his goal was to attract people who have never skied before.

"Once people have tried it there's a good chance that they will continue,'' he said.

For the first time this year, NSW ski resorts Thredbo and Perisher also offered a lift pass which could be used at both resorts.

NZSki general manager of marketing Craig Douglas said Australia was a huge market for them.

"New Zealand is a small country, we don't have a lot of people here so it's our largest opportunity market,'' he said.

"We can have more Australians here than kiwis at times.

"We can see that our offer has become more threatening to them.

"We have got a favourable exchange rate, we have good access with direct flights to Queenstown in particular and our base pricing is already very affordable.''

Mr Douglas said if Snow Australia managed to get more people to take up skiing it was good news for everyone.

"We just want more and more people to ski and grow the size of the pie rather than just stealing other people's pieces of it,'' he said.

Read more about the ski season in the Escape liftout in today's paper.