A few days before the end of the ski season in Upper Austria, on April 6th in Gosau and Hinterstoder, the mountain railways and operators draw an extremely positive winter balance. The Upper Austrian cable car holding company – with the Dachstein West, Krippenstein and Feuerkogel ski areas – recorded 13 percent more skiers this season than in the previous year. A total of 580,000 guests – an increase of 70,000. “We have surpassed the previous record year 2019/20 by three percent,” says Rupert Schiefer, Managing Director of Upper Austria cable car holding holding.
The months of December and January in particular would have developed pleasantly, thanks to excellent weather conditions- lots of sun, cold nights, best snow-making and slopes. The turnover of the entire group, most recently summer and winter 30 million euros, also increased by 14 percent this year in the winter season. There were more guests in all ski areas, and there was also an increase of 23 percent with the touring tickets, according to Schiefer. A total of 10,000 season tickets were sold, “which contributed to high demand”.
Hinterstoder and small areas
The season in the Hinterstoder and Wurzeralm ski areas was similar. “We have an increase of seven percent this year,” says Helmut Holzinger, board member of the Hinterstoder-Wurzeralm mountain railways, thanks to many sunny days and good snow conditions, there were a total of 450,000 first steps and skiers, including 130,000 on the Wurzeralm. Dynamic Pricing also paid off. “We had a very uniform occupancy all over the winter,” says Holzinger, who is still expecting around 1,500 guests on the last two weekends of the ski season.
He does not call specific sales figures, “but we are very satisfied and have achieved our plans”. The 10,000 season tickets have contributed to this. “The number of Super Ski Card (for Austria and Bavaria, note) has almost doubled, more than 31,000 were sold throughout Austria,” says Holzinger, who is also a spokesman for the Upper Austrian cable car industry. Many of the small lift operators in the country, such as in Eberschwang or Lower Licking, could be happy about good seasons, only for some under 1000 meters and with little snow, such as church, it was difficult.
Hochfichte and Sternstein should also be satisfied with season. According to the managing director Fritz Drack, the Kasberg also takes a positive account of the Kasberg this year, “with a good result”.
Source: Nachrichten
