After 10 Years: Alpine Ski World Championships Were A Real “Launch Vehicle” For Schladming-Dachstein

It was a day full of tension, but also great anticipation for the two weeks ahead: Ten years ago, on February 4, 2013, the 42nd edition of the Alpine Ski World Championships opened in Schladming. All races took place on the Planai and were a complete success for both the participants and the organizers. Today, the long-term balance of the major event is extremely positive from a tourist and economic point of view. For Schladming-Dachstein, the World Cup proved to be the initial spark for an extraordinary development into a year-round destination that is in demand worldwide.

• On February 4, 2013, the two-week major event was opened
• Tourism and economy in the Styrian region benefited enormously
• Schladming-Dachstein has since established itself as a successful year-round destination

The numbers alone speak a clear language: While the Styrian region recorded 1.3 million overnight stays in the winter before the World Cup, this number increased to almost two million in the years that followed until the comparable season before Corona 2018/19. Since the Alpine Ski World Championships, Schladming-Dachstein has been able to gain new, international markets of origin thanks to the immense worldwide advertising effect. Particularly high increases in the number of guests were noticeable from countries such as Germany and Scandinavia, but above all from Central and Eastern Europe with countries such as the Czech Republic and Poland.

Development into one of the largest tourist destinations in Austria

For Mathias Schattleitner, Managing Director of the Schladming-Dachstein tourism region, another aspect is of particular importance: "The World Ski Championships ten years ago not only had an impact on the following winter seasons, they also brought our region far forward as a year-round destination. ” With more than 1.8 million overnight stays between May and October, this year saw the strongest tourism summer of all time, even surpassing the winter season for the first time.

With a total of more than 3.7 million overnight stays per year, the Schladming-Dachstein holiday region is already one of the five largest tourist destinations in Austria. "With the driving force of the Ski World Championships, a strong further development of the region became possible, at the same time the investments made brought about a major improvement in quality," says Schattleitner. “And future holiday offers should continue to be of high quality.”

Investments in innovations and expansions

The two-week major event was more than worth it for the Planai as the central venue for the eleven races. “The 2013 Alpine World Ski Championships was definitely a launch vehicle for the Planai-Hochwurzen-Bahnen company,” summarizes Planai Managing Director Georg Bliem. "This is reflected in particular in the increased guest demand, both in winter and in summer." After the World Cup, the leisure infrastructure experienced an immense boost in investment. Since then, around 130 million euros have been invested in innovations and expansions on the Planai and Hochwurzen, as well as in various public projects such as the Bikepark Schladming or the Hopsiland.

"Milestones are above all the new construction of the Planai main cable car in 2019 and the 8-seater Lärchkogel chairlift in 2020," says Bliem, who still thanks the ambitious organizer ÖSV and the state of Styria for the great cooperation and support for the World Ski Championships . With the construction or conversion of the Dachstein mountain station from autumn 2023, another future-oriented and sustainable project will follow this year under the working title "Energy Crystal". A new 10-seater monocable gondola is planned for 2024 as a replacement for the previous 2-seater Rohrmoos I chairlift.

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