Skiing since Christmas: this is how the Vorarlberg cable cars react – Coronavirus –

The Vorarlberg mountain railways can start operating at Christmas. To cushion the financial losses associated with this late start to the season, they receive compensation from the federal government. At the same time, however, the hotel and catering industry will not be allowed to reopen until January 7, 2021. So there are no places for refreshment on the mountain for the first two weeks.

“First of all, of course, we are happy that we are allowed to unlock. Replacing sales is also a good solution, “stresses Andreas Gapp, president of the Vorarlberger Seilbahnen group, but adds:” What we see with concern, however, is the decoupling of tourism, gastronomy and cable cars. Gastronomy in the mountains has a completely different function than in the valley. Catering facilities are mainly used for heating, resting and recharging. It is difficult to understand that there is no more suitable solution for ski areas and that winter sports fans have to give up all soda on the mountain until the beginning of January ”.

The fact that tourism and cable cars are decoupled also affects the ski areas on another level: tourism in Vorarlberg is highly dependent on overnight guests. Since the hotel industry is closed until January, this group of guests is escaping to the ski areas.

The Vorarlberg cable cars would have wished that ski areas that have mainly local guests could start operating and those that rely heavily on overnight guests could be closed. “Since this is not the case, ski areas face an economic balancing act,” Gapp fears. “At first, it is likely that some ski areas will not be able to open all the facilities, as this is simply not possible from an economic perspective in the given circumstances,” explains the chairman of the specialist group.

“In the end, however, we are happy to be able to offer our guests something new, even if it is going to be a very special winter,” says Gapp in closing.