Credits RhĂ´ne-Alpes Tourisme - S. Chappaz
The ESF in Megève, with its 300 instructors, is one of the largest in the Alps. Two years’ ago the “red jerseys” decided to supplement their traditional activities by adopting a made-to-measure events structure created initially by the national Union of French ski instructors. Known as Red Ski Organisation (RSO), it responds to any requests sent either to the tourist office or directly to accommodation providers by companies wanting to organise their seminar or event in the resort.
“The tourist office and hotels give us the contact details of the organisers, just as they do for the other suppliers,” explains Jennyfer Pieyre, seminar and group manager at Red Ski Organisation Megève. “I then get in touch with the client to see what sort of thing they’re looking for. We can respond to all the requests we receive because we can rely on the support from the ESF offices based in the resort’s five areas (Mont d’Arbois, Jaillet, Rochebrune, Caboche and Princesse). And if necessary, we can also call on other partners in the resort”. Red Ski Organisation offers an impressive list of options for this type of business, all involving a ski activity : private lessons, dinner in a mountain restaurant with snow-shoes for the way up and a torch-lit descent on skis or sledges for the way down, biathlon, dog-sled races, orienteering, organised challenges, ski safaris, snowboarding, airbag, cross-country skiing, igloo-building etc.
“We can combine any of these activities with a camp fire and a bivouac camp in the mountains,” continues Jennyfer Pieyre. “We can respond literally to any request. Recently we had an agency wanting us to organise an orienteering race and a tour of the village for a group of 25 people who were staying at the Mont d’Arbois. In January, we organised a gala dinner in a marquee for a group of 300 company directors from the Savoie. The day before the event, some of them skied and some of them didn’t, so we organised a special programme for the non-skiers”.
During the 2010-2011 season, RSO Megève handled 22 events, including one for a Swiss groups of 200 people. About ten contracts have already been signed for the forthcoming season and RSO has put together an exclusive package: clients are offered ski guiding by some of the top ski champions from the area, like Richard Gay and Adrien Duvillard. “At the moment RSO only operates during the winter months, particularly during January and March,” concludes Jennyfer. “We provide a good level of extra work for the instructors. The cost for half a day with an instructor works out at 200 € in the morning and 180 € in the afternoon. Clients will be able to make the most of the instructors’ technical advice as well as being able to skip the queues at the ski lifts”.
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