Ski resorts seeking to become `year round attraction`
Released on = August 8, 2007, 10:36 am
Press Release Author = Jimwatson
Industry = Real Estate
Press Release Summary = Last year, ski resorts in Switzerland, like many other places in Europe, had a dramatic wake-up call. The unusually mild winter meant that many of the lower-lying Alpine resorts suffered from a lack of snow, which in turn resulted in a lack of business. Concerns that global warming could lead to such winters occurring with ever greater frequency, particularly in low-lying resorts, has raised the possibility that such resorts may have to provide more than just winter sports to ensure their continued popularity.
Press Release Body = Last year, ski resorts in Switzerland, like many other places in Europe, had a dramatic wake-up call. The unusually mild winter meant that many of the lower-lying Alpine resorts suffered from a lack of snow, which in turn resulted in a lack of business. Concerns that global warming could lead to such winters occurring with ever greater frequency, particularly in low-lying resorts, has raised the possibility that such resorts may have to provide more than just winter sports to ensure their continued popularity.
However, according to Terry Brine, director of ski property company Ski-Invest, investors have not all been put off Switzerland or other European resorts by climate fears.
He said: \"It really is a mixed bag, because some people just don\'t believe that there is climate change. It is considered more of a blip in the weather conditions. There are others who do really want \'snow-sure\' resorts, or easy access to \'snow-sure\' resorts.\"
This second group, he said, might head to somewhere in the Americas, but for now, Mr Brine said, ski resorts remained popular even if some wanted the insurance of being high up or close to a glacier.
Of course, those resorts which cannot be sure of adequate snowfall can always diversify by offering other attractions. Scottish resorts have provided some examples of this. For instance, the Nevis range resort near Fort William has a world class mountain bike track, which will host a world championship event in early September. Moreover, its cable cars, which climb over 2,000 feet to a restaurant and gift shop, offer an attraction in themselves as well as an easy way up the mountainside for walkers and cyclists in summer as much as skiers in winter.
The Glen Shee resort near Braemar is similarly diversifying, now opening its restaurant and chairlift service during good weather in the summer and planning to install its own mountain bike course.
Such diversification is already becoming a factor in Switzerland, states Mr Brine, adding that this is increasingly what investors are looking for, stating that people are looking for dual or multi-season experiences \"more and more these days\".
He added: \"They want an all season experience. These top resorts are developing that year round experience and new properties there should show a good return.\"
These attractions, he notes, include \"cycling, walking, climbing, horse riding, ballooning - all manner of activities and pastimes.\"
By making such a range of activities available, resorts in Switzerland and elsewhere in the Alps, while maintaining their wintersports prominence, may not just safeguard their economies against mild winters, or improve their summer attractiveness to tourists. In achieving such appeal to a broader range of people, they could open up a whole range of opportunities to investors, with year-round occupancy of rented property becoming increasingly common.
2012
