Corona: That is what ski resorts would lose if the season were closed

So much money depends on the Swiss ski season and the comparison with Austria

Italy, France and Germany want to delay the European start of the ski season because of Corona. Austria’s finance minister has demanded billions in compensation for this; There is also a lot of money at stake for Switzerland.

800 million per week in Austria

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte provoked redheads in Switzerland last week: he wants to postpone the start of the ski season to January 10. French President Emmanuel Macron also rules out an opening during the holiday season, and the idea also received support from Germany.

Austria disagrees. “If the EU really stipulates that ski areas must remain closed, that means costs of up to two billion euros. If the EU really wants that, then it has to pay for it, ”Austria’s Finance Minister Gernot Blümel said last week. Closed ski areas mean one in Austria Loss of sales of 800 million euros per week.

The Skier-Days also show the importance of the ski season for Austria. In Austria there are an average of 52 million ski days per season, that is, days when a person skis. International ski tourists contribute a great deal to this. In Switzerland, with 22 million, there are not even half the days of skiing.

Number of ski days * per inhabitant in a season

Importance of the ski season for Switzerland

How is it in Switzerland? The Federal Council has clearly stated that the ski areas must remain open, but must prepare accordingly for the attack. The exact measurements will be announced on Friday. Closing before January 10 would be out of the question, too many sales would be lost. But how much money are we talking about exactly?

According to the seasonal balance of the Swiss cable cars, the transport revenue in the last (partly already affected by Corona) 19/20 season at about 665 million francs. It is exclusively about income from the sale of passes and subscriptions. Of course, sales of ski schools, hotels and restaurants would also be affected by a (partial) closure.

Dr. Monika Bandi Tanner, Co-Director of the CRED-T Tourism Research Center at the University of Bern, explains a rough rule of thumb in the industry: “On average, ski areas a third of sales at Christmas and New Years, an additional third in the official ski holiday season in February and the final third spread over the remainder of the season. ”It is clear that people are extremely reluctant to do without high-turnover ski days during Christmas.

How the sales of a season are made up

According to this golden rule, Swiss ski resorts and their railways would be more than one hundred million sales Get lost. However, the expert highlights: “Of course, sales during the Christmas period also depend on the weather. If the weather is bad, there is not a significant proportion of spontaneous skiers. But when the mountain weather is good, the ski areas reach their peak days. ”

Also, part of the loss for Corona is already a fact. Due to the “lockdown” in early summer, quite a few sales were lost. Summer attracted guests to the mountains. However, people often stayed away from mountain railways and restaurants – many hikers came as daytime guests, generated traffic and filled parking spaces, but didn’t leave much money.

Therefore, the ongoing winter operation is vital for many mountain train operators. According to Monika Bandi, around a third of Swiss companies were already in financial trouble in the good years before Corona and could often only survive thanks to the involvement of municipalities.

For the director of economics of Graubünden, Marcus Caduff, it is clear: “If the ski areas really close at Christmas, the damage would be enormous and often irreparable.”

Compared to Austria, Switzerland has an ace up its sleeve

In Austria, the pressure to open ski areas is even greater than in Switzerland. This is also due to the fact that the Austrian mountain railways generate most of the sales in winter, while in Switzerland many destinations depend on tourism throughout the year.

Also, the call to go on vacation to their own country in the Corona summer was significantly better in Switzerland than in Austria. In this country, domestic tourists were able to offset a considerable part of the loss in sales. According to Monika Bandi, this was less the case in Austria.

Limitations of the Federal Council

According to the plans of the Federal Council, Swiss mountain railways with room to stand should be able to use up to two-thirds of their original capacity. According to the expert from the University of Bern, this will create a bottleneck, especially in ski areas with lifts. In decentralized destinations like Saanenland, the flow of visitors will be well distributed.

Whatever the Federal Council’s decision, it is important that the ski areas remain open: “With family celebrations and Christmas markets canceled, many have already been canceled this year. It is important that activities that are justifiable from a health point of view remain possible; a visit to nature is part of this, ”says tourism expert Monika Bandi.