First there were storms, rain and snow. Then, on 26 December, the weather changed to a long-term high. Until 2 January, over an eight-day period, the destination was completely full.

Flurin Riedi, managing director of Gstaad Saanenland Tourismus (GST), was thrilled: “Everywhere, restaurateurs, hoteliers, traders and the BDG are reporting record-breaking numbers. It’s terrific. We aren’t the only ones benefitting from the best holiday period in ten or fifteen years but we’re nevertheless very happy.” He puts it down to the good timing of the public holidays, the wonderful weather compared to fog in the Swiss plateau and the overall performance of the destination, i.e. the combination of all its products.

Glacier 3000 has been preparing its ski slopes since 9 November and had a very good start to the season. The winter storms in December made operations a bit tricky, says Bernhard Tschannen, CEO. However, with the great weather conditions after Christmas, the Glacier was able to build on the good figures from last year.

The same goes for the Gstaad ski school. In the final week of the year, all 120 ski instructors were out and about with winter sports enthusiasts, enabling ski school director Jan Brand to show a very positive balance sheet. Above all, the atmosphere was great, even though some slopes were quite hard due to the artificial snow.

The positive media coverage, the spirit across the entire region, the many word-of-mouth recommendations, the new infrastructure and the combination of fog in the lowlands and sun in the mountains: According to Matthias In-Albon, managing director of BDG, these factors led to the dream figures recorded by the company over the festive period.

In terms of traffic, the region reached its limits due to the influx of tourists. Parking spaces were full and the traffic sometimes caused tail-backs to the main street.

Based on AvS/Blanca Burri
Translated by Justine Hewson