"Manufacturing" stats...

I just read that Bing, the “other search engine,” came up with a ski resorts visual search tool to help U.K. vacationers find their way through 486 different world ski destinations and that based on web inquiries, the most searched-for resorts on Bing are: 1. Chamonix, 2. Morzine, 3. Tignes (all in France), 4. Banff, Canada, 5. Meribel, 6. Val Thorens (both in France) and 7. Aspen, USA. Like most stats relayed through press releases, these must be taken with a huge grain of salt. I took a peek at the Bing site, which I found to be a huge tile work of thumbnails that appears more confusing than practical in the way the resorts are presented. I also randomly checked some of the information contained in the site and found it very approximate, if not at times completely inaccurate.

Of course, popularity trumps everything with Chamonix being number one. Morzine, my hometown stands in second place with probably some good reasons, having been invaded by the Brits some 20 years ago and being so conveniently located to Geneva and its cheap Easyjet service. As far as Banff's number four, it's always nice to dream and the Canadian location shares some of the scenic qualities of Chamonix, is pretty well known amongst the well-heeled Britons who don't mind jet-lag. As far as Aspen's number 7th place is concerned, I think it has more to do with pure search for exotic dreams and famous people sighting than anything else. A flimsy ranking indeed!