SWITZERLAND Experience throughout the Year is Everything

By Tom Langtry

Overview

Switzerland was one of the countries that ran a keynote indoor presentation, which was an overview of their plans for ski resorts, the industry, and their staff, looking ahead over a long-term period of decades. Their focus is on year-round resort operations.

 

The Problem

The Swiss ski industry and resorts are facing challenging times, with a shorter ski season due to warmer temperatures and less snow, and therefore economic challenges with larger costs and lower revenue. This has also led to difficulties retaining good quality staff.

 

The Solution

To combat this issue, they have begun implementing plans for year-round resort operations, focusing on activities guests can do in the spring, summer, and autumn in addition to snowsports during the winter. They are looking at a wide range of activities. The Swiss Bike program now falls under the management of Swiss Snowsports. This has brought a level progression structure to Bikes, and strong marketing resources to promote Bikes to their database of snowsports guests.

They have identified that many of the main qualities of snowsports instructors (safety, communication, sports fitness) are transferable to Bikes. They are encouraging many of their snowsports instructors to become certified as Bike instructors (as well as other summer activities), with the aim of retaining a good number of then for year-round work. This obviously has many operational and economic benefits.

 

 

My Take

The Swiss have spent time and resources on a national review of not only their snowsports industry, but also the broader future of their resorts and staff. Their pivot to a year-round tourism focus makes a lot of sense and appears to match the approach taken by other resorts around the world. Some North American resorts have successfully implemented this approach and achieved higher tourism visitation in summer than winter (E.g., Whistler, Canada).

The Swiss’ national Snowsports Association controlling the snowsports schools gives strong ability to promote their updated Bike program to guests and facilitate year-round work opportunities for their instructors. It will be interesting to see how successful their plans are over the next 5-10 years.