"Hundreds of Applications for Courchevel": How Russians Are Vacationing in the Alps This Winter

Russians have regained interest in ski resorts in the Alps. Wealthy tourists have adapted to the ruble exchange rate and flights to Europe with a transfer: demand for holidays in Courchevel among tour operators has grown by at least 50%

In the 2024/25 winter season , demand for ski trips to the Alps among Russians has increased compared to previous years. There were a lot of Russians in Courchevel this January, Yulia Posh, co-founder of the Antiglyanets TELEGRAM channel, told Business FM: “Russian speech is everywhere: Russian speech in restaurants, Russian speech in boutiques. As if I had practically never left my homeland.” “Russian Courchevel has come to life this year. They say even [Mikhail] Prokhorov came,” the Nebozhena Telegram channel reported.

Previously, the scope of recreation in Courchevel, which has gained the reputation of the most Russian resort in the French Alps, was greater. Russian businessmen, top managers and officials went there for winter holidays. But the resort of Courchevel 1850 is only part of the largest ski area in the world, Les Trois Vallees, located in the French Alps, which has about 600 km of slopes connected by lifts.

Courchevel itself, in addition to the high-mountain village that attracts the wealthiest tourists, is five more villages, including La Tania with forest slopes, where you can find more budget-friendly accommodation options. In the "Three Valleys" there are other ski resorts - Meribel, Brides-les-Bains, Les Menuires, Saint-Martin de Belleville, Val Thorens and Orelle. Vacations are booked not only in the French, but also in the Swiss, Italian and Austrian Alps. This winter, we are talking about hundreds of requests for trips, according to tour operators interviewed by RBC.

How Russian tourists are vacationing in the Alps this season, why demand has grown, and how much such a vacation costs - in the RBC article.

Who is on holiday in the Alps?

Interest in trips to the Alps began to grow in late November 2024: even then, the Association of Tour Operators of RUSSIA (ATOR) noted increased demand for European ski resorts for the New Year . Of course, we are not talking about mass demand: such trips are mainly made by fans of skiing or wealthy clients who book individual tours.

"Our tourists are people with a good income level who are used to choosing comfort. They come with couples and families with children, as well as groups of friends," a representative of the tour operator PAC Group told RBK. At Russian Express, vacations in the Alps are mostly booked by young entrepreneurs, couples, or groups of friends. About a third of all guests are parents with children, and on average, travelers spend five to seven nights at the resorts. At Intourist, ski vacations in the Alps are most often booked by couples, families with children, and groups from five to 12 nights. BSI Group sends VIP tourists who are in Russia on such trips, and since this year, the number of applications for ski Europe from Russians living outside the country has increased.

Trips to the Alpine ski resorts are now mostly booked through tour operators that provide visa support, as PAC Group and Russian Express assure. Tour operators also organize transfers, including helicopter transfers, book ski instructors and other leisure options. However, Maxim Pristavko, CEO of the tour operator Jet Travel, believes that the share of bookings of tours to Europe through tour operators is quite difficult to estimate, since statistics on the arrival of Russians to resorts are not published. According to him, before the pandemic, the share of bookings through tour operators did not exceed 10-15%.

Where are they going and how has demand changed?

The number of requests for ski holidays in France in the 2024/25 season has increased by an average of 2.5-3 times compared to last season, said a representative of the tour operator Russian Express. About 50% of bookings in December-March are for Courchevel: we are talking about “hundreds of requests,” noted Russian Express. But ski resorts in Europe are not only France , but also Switzerland and Italy , the representative of the tour operator reminds, — there are also hundreds of requests there. “A luxury product cannot be mass-market,” adds the representative of the tour operator.

At Intourist, demand for ski trips to Europe has grown four to five times this year compared to 2024, but "the growth came from a low base," a representative of the tour operator said. Not only the French, but also the Swiss, Italian and Austrian Alps are booking.

In 2025, the number of bookings for European ski tourism increased by more than 60% compared to last year, with Italy leading the way, the PAC Group press service noted. And demand for Courchevel increased by 50% compared to last year.

The fact that Courchevel is growing rapidly, and the demand for it in Russia is already significantly higher than it was before the pandemic, was previously emphasized by the CEO of PAC Group, Ilya Itkin. “Right now, representatives of the middle class from Russia are practically not going there, but the flow of the wealthiest clients is gradually increasing,” he added.

How Russians Used to Vacation in Courchevel

The village of Courchevel 1850, which is part of the resort, is considered one of the most luxurious ski resorts in the world. Its own airfield serves private jets, and at the foot of the snowy slopes are five-star hotels and chalets, Michelin-starred restaurants and nightclubs, as well as luxury brand boutiques.

In the 1990s and 2000s, the resort began to attract Russian billionaires and the elite for winter holidays. Courchevel’s transformation into a center of Alpine luxury was made possible by the lavish spending of oligarchs, their families, and the many young women who often accompanied the wealthy to chalets rented out for six-figure sums a week, wrote the French newspaper Le Monde. By 2013, Courchevel had “become simpler” — the resort’s prestige began to attract Russian “strong managers” and other simpler, but wealthy, people. “Russian Seasons” with parties on New Year’s, Christmas, and March 8 remained a tradition for the resort until the onset of the covid-19 pandemic . “Many people visited Courchevel and brought back a suitcase of viruses from there,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin complained in March 2020, shortly before international air traffic and tourism were suspended to combat the spread of the CORONAVIRUS.

After 2022, the elite ski resort's attendance was also affected by Russia's special military operation in Ukraine . "The party for rich Russian clients in Courchevel is over," Le Monde wrote when the Russian flag was taken down on the Croisette in the heart of the resort. Before the pandemic, Slavic clients — Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians — accounted for 7% of foreign tourists in Courchevel, Franceinfo reported, citing data from the local tourism office. In the winter of 2023, their number fell to 3%. Many of the Russians vacationing there that winter were tourists with dual citizenship or residence permits in other countries, an instructor who has been working in Courchevel for 12 years told the publication. "There are not as many of them as before, but it's still okay." Those who only have Russian citizenship are "more or less" blocked due to visa issues, he explained.

This season, demand for European ski holidays has grown by 57% compared to the previous year, Club Med noted. The company estimates the tourist flow in the thousands, with guests mainly arriving in January for New Year and Christmas. "The main peak of bookings for the 2025 winter season was in March 2024, when we first opened sales," the company representative said. Club Med offers holidays at 15 resorts: from Tignes-Val d'Isere to the Three Valleys and Paradiski in France, but the company does not offer Courchevel. The main share of bookings (30%) at Club Med is for Tignes-Val d'Isere. "Tignes is where extreme sports enthusiasts gather, while Val d'Isere is chosen by adherents of "quiet luxury," the company said.

Pristavko also talks about the three-fold increase in demand for Alpine resorts compared to last year. However, the actual number of trips has not increased that much, by about 50-60%. “This is primarily due to difficulties in obtaining visas, as well as the availability of places at resorts - Russians generally try to book trips quite late, when places are already running out,” Pristavko explained. According to him, the majority of bookings from Russians are for Courchevel, although for all Alpine resorts it is no more than 5%. Pristavko estimates the number of Russian tourists at several thousand, but the percentage of bookings in Courchevel has decreased due to growth at other resorts. “The price of a flight to Alpine airports this season has practically not increased compared to the previous year. Thanks to this, more budget flight options have appeared, and more Russians with an average budget have been able to afford the trip,” Pristavko believes.

The number of tours to Courchevel this year has increased compared to last year, but only slightly, says Ivetta Verdiyan, DIRECTOR of the promotion and advertising department at BSI Group. According to her, European ski resorts have lost a significant share of demand from Russian clients after the events of 2022. “It is extremely difficult to get to Europe with your own ski equipment on connecting flights. Therefore, many have changed their vacation spots,” Verdiyan added. Tourists have reoriented themselves to ski resorts in Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, as well as local Russian resorts. “Of course, they are inferior to European resorts in terms of the quality of the slopes and the system of organizing leisure activities, but they are more affordable,” she added.

Why Russians Have Recovered Interest in the Alps

Russian tourists had a pause in bookings "due to circumstances" when it was unclear how to fly, how to get visas, but now tourists have adapted to the changed logistics of tours to Europe and are used to flying with transfers, the press service of PAC Group noted. In addition, the tour operator helps to obtain a visa. "Obtaining a Schengen visa has almost become a streamlined process, on average, visas are issued in three weeks," Itkin previously noted. Clients have adapted to the new realities and current restrictions, and traveling with transfers and the difficulty of obtaining visas no longer frighten as much as they did several years ago, Club Med added.

Russian tourists have adapted to the growth of the exchange rate, as well as to flights to Europe with connections. In addition, there are more flights, so the cost of tickets has decreased, agreed the representative of Russian Express. According to him, another reason may be that visa centers have begun to issue multiple-entry visas more often compared to 2023, and the number of "unreasonable refusals" has been minimized.

The growth in demand for Europe this year may be due to the low-snow winter in Russia, Intourist suggested. In addition, “the quality of the slopes, lifts and infrastructure in the European Alps is incomparably higher than anywhere else,” the tour operator representative added.

Demand for Alpine resorts is affected by the rising cost of vacations at Russian resorts, Pristavko suggested. "If it weren't for the expensive flight to Europe, vacations in the Alps could be cheaper than at domestic resorts," he believes.

How much does a holiday in the Alps cost?

The average cost of a trip is not indicative due to the large share of expensive tours costing €30–100 thousand, according to Jet Travel. According to Pristavko, the median cost is more indicative — about €4–5 thousand per family, not counting the flight. There are currently no package tours to Europe due to the lack of direct flights, the RBC source adds.

"Russian Express" provides accommodation, transfer, insurance and ski instructor services, and tourists usually buy plane tickets on their own. At the most expensive ski resort Courchevel 1850, the average cost per night can start from €3,000 and up, reaching €10,000 depending on the dates. The cost of a night in a luxury chalet starts from €80,000 per day and up.

PAC Group most often books 4-5 star hotels near the ski lift at European ski resorts. Prices for a tour for two with airfare and a hotel in Italy for seven nights range from approximately 200,000 to 8.6 million rubles; in Austria - from 192,700 to 1.7 million rubles; in France - from 267,200 to 3.4 million rubles, in Switzerland - from 246,900 to 11.8 million rubles.

Club Med offers a premium all-inclusive format in the Alps. The price already includes not only food and drinks throughout the day, but also ski passes and group lessons with instructors according to your level of training. At the Peisey-Vallandry resort in the Paradiski ski area, a week's accommodation under the premium all-inclusive system in March will cost 417 thousand rubles for two. At the Exclusive Collection resort in the Alps - Club Med Val d'Isere, the same accommodation for a week for two costs about 1 million rubles.

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