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Federal Councilor Alain Berset (49) has to point out to the rest of the world that Switzerland does not want to be a parasite on skiing nor does it allow a large crowd on mountain railways. But the mountain railways totally reject his two proposals to restrict fans to winter sports.
The proposed restriction of ski guests to 80 percent or two-thirds of guests compared to previous years is already causing larger ski areas to fail. Matthias In-Albon (35), director of Bergbahnen Destination Gstaad BE, tells BLICK: “We only have an assessment of the number of guests in the area at night, a percentage reduction is not possible.”
The ski area, like many others, has many entry points and cannot record the number of guests in real time. “We cannot deny access to holders of multi-day and seasonal passes,” he emphasizes.
Own realizable restrictions
For this winter season, Gstaad has introduced its own guest restriction for peak days, regardless of Corona. They don’t want to sell day passes for queuing for hours. Therefore, the quota for highly variable one-day ticket sales was limited to 5,000 per day. Last season showed that queues only formed from 5,000 daily visitors.
According to In-Albon, even during the holidays, it would only be very tight on the best individual days, like December 27 and January 2, with no limits. His conclusion: “The suggestions were well intentioned, but not feasible with our systems and mountain railways.”
Gstaad and other ski areas have introduced several measures for Corona’s winter: they let the railways run longer, rely on online sales of ski passes and reservations for mountain restaurants. The mountain railways don’t want to let anything burn, the season is just beginning.
Operation already in danger
At Saas Valley VS, on the other hand, a Covid-19 security team is on duty at valley stations to avoid crowds. Bern’s proposals only make people shake their heads at Saas-Fee VS. Developing a reservation platform in a short time, which would be necessary for an orderly reduction in the number of visitors, is hardly feasible, explains Mattia Storni from Saastal Tourism.
Those responsible for the Titlis Bergbahnen are also tense about the new requirements of the Covid-19 of Bern. Pressure on the federal government has increased since it emerged yesterday that Austria apparently does not want to open hotels and restaurants in the mountains during the holidays.
“Even now, before the additional restrictions, the profitability of our operations is at great risk,” says Urs Egli of Titlis Bergbahnen. For the Titlis gondola, for example, capacity has already been voluntarily reduced by a quarter.
It is important that regulations for public transport (ÖV) are measured with the same criteria, emphasizes Egli. And: “The corona virus does not recognize if you are on a train or a mountain railway.”
If so, then Berset’s second proposal with a capacity limit of 80 percent of the average Christmas holiday in the last five years is more acceptable. But at Engelberg one wonders why this restriction on public transport is not a problem.
Guest restriction alone doesn’t prevent crowds
The proposals also provoke resistance at the Swiss Alpine ski destination of Andermatt UR. Given that Andermatt-Sedrun has vastly expanded its rail capacities in the last two years, a limitation compared to the last five years would be an economic disaster, explains Stefan Kern, Andermatt-Swiss-Alps spokesman.
The variant with a reduction to two-thirds of the guests compared to the peak holidays of the previous year would be almost acceptable. The ski area is technically equipped to be able to determine the number of guests on the mountain at any time. But if everyone is in the valley and queuing, reducing the number of guests in the ski area is of no use.
This is why Andermatt has introduced a reservation system for the highly frequented Andermatt-Gemsstock aerial tram this season. Only those who have reserved can get a seat in the gondola. In the app, visitors can see when their space is available. “This prevents people from gathering at the valley station,” explains Kern.
