8th Ordinary General Meeting 2022/2023 Of Aletsch Arena AG Held
Aletsch Arena AG can look back on a positive year in the 2022/2023 financial year. At the eighth ordinary general meeting, those responsible for the tourism organization presented the challenges and successful strategies and projects for the future.
The Aletsch Arena tourism destination recorded a total of 980,824 overnight stays in the 2022/2023 tourism financial year (November 1, 2022 - October 31, 2023), which corresponds to an increase of 1.6% compared to the previous year. In the hotel industry, the Aletsch Arena recorded an overall decline in overnight stays of 2.63%. In the para-hotel industry, based on flat-rate billing, 677,343 overnight stays were registered. Compared to the previous year, there is a slight increase of 0.46% due to the cleansing of the master data. During the pandemic years, many Swiss traveled within Switzerland. This year many traveled abroad again. The majority of foreign tourists were able to compensate for the absence of Swiss guests in the Aletsch Arena and the vast majority of international markets recorded significant growth. Group accommodation (including campsites and mountain huts) achieved a pleasing increase in overnight stays of +9.68% compared to the previous year. The Sport Resort Fiesch once again achieved a very good result in the post-pandemic period with over 125,000 overnight stays.
Uniform tourist tax regulations – milestone for stability in the Aletsch Arena reached
The new tourist tax regulations came into force on November 1st, 2020. A few private individuals in the municipalities of Riederalp, Bettmeralp and Fiesch have filed a complaint with the Federal Court against the 2020 tourist tax regulations. All six communities in the Aletsch Arena adhered to the previous tourist tax regulations. The voters of the communities of Riederalp, Bettmeralp and Fiesch confirmed this decision at the general meetings. In spring 2022, four private individuals filed new complaints with the Federal Court. In October 2023, the Federal Court approved the tourist tax regulations for the municipalities of Bettmeralp and Riederalp. In the municipality of Fiesch, the complaints were accepted, which led to the adjustment of the ratio of mountain/valley package nights according to the results of the HES-SO. The corresponding change to the tourist tax regulations was unanimously approved at the general meeting in Fiesch and then approved by the State Council. This step marks a milestone for uniform tourist tax regulations in the Aletsch Arena, which ensures stability.
Aletsch Arena implements groundbreaking destination strategy
In the 2021/2022 financial year, Aletsch Arena AG developed a new destination and marketing strategy together with all tourism stakeholders such as the municipalities, Aletsch Bahnen, representatives of holiday apartments and hotels as well as local businesses in the region. In the 2022/2023 financial year, targeted work was carried out on the new strategic business areas. The aim is to develop new products for new guests and to increase visitor numbers in the Aletsch Arena in the off-season.
In the mountain bike and outdoor business area, those responsible have developed a new master plan that clearly positions the Aletsch Arena as an enduro mountain bike Eldorado. The Aletsch Arena, together with Bellwald, will host the UCI World Cup race in 2024 and the Enduro Mountain Bike World Championships in 2025, which will allow the region to establish itself as a top mountain bike destination. Chairman of the Board Armin Berchtold is convinced: “In the Aletsch Arena we are already very busy during the main season in winter, but the unused potential becomes particularly evident for the mountain bike business area in the snow-free times from spring to autumn. The fascinating images and emotions of the major events that we broadcast and broadcast from the Aletsch Arena and Bellwald will undoubtedly ensure an unprecedented response."
Managing director Philippe Sproll emphasizes the progress in the “Workation” business area: “The Aletsch Arena is the first tourism organization to handle this business area professionally and comprehensively. The project is being implemented together with Gstaad Saanenland Tourismus and is supported by the Innotour fund. Workation guests in In the future, the Aletsch Arena will feature modern holiday apartments and hotels with high-quality work infrastructure, as well as co-working spaces and attractive leisure and sports activities. These will be offered in cooperation with large Swiss companies in order to offer employees an optimal working environment.
Aletsch Arena AG founded the aletsch.kollektiv in 2020. The other tourism destinations Blatten-Belalp, Obergoms Tourism, Brig-Simplon and Bellwald are cooperating in this digitalization project under the lead of Aletsch Arena AG. The Aletsch Collective project is also supported by SECO as an Innotour project. After three years of work, the project came to an end this year. Together, all project partners developed and introduced digital technology for the website and the electronic content system (content hub). The cooperation in digitalization proved to be a catalyst for the continuation and expansion of cooperation in the digital area between these destinations.
