Snow at the end of March and in April brought new momentum to cable cars in higher altitude areas.
Keystone
In the winter season up to the end of April 2024, railway and cable car operators ferried 3% more visitors compared to the previous winter, and 5% more than the five-year average.
The snow in November followed by conditions over Christmas, the New Year and in January laid a strong foundation for operations, the Swiss cable car association said on Wednesday.
While warm weather in February and March affected lower-lying ski resorts, snow at the end of March and in April brought new momentum to higher altitude areas.
According to the association, there were major regional differences in fortunes, depending on weather conditions. The mountains around Fribourg, with their medium-altitude ski areas, recorded a 31% drop in visitors, while the Jura mountain range saw a 26% drop. Eastern Switzerland recorded the greatest growth at 9%. The season in the southern canton of Ticino was saved by the snow in March, meaning that the decline was only 1%.
In terms of company size, larger cable car operators with a turnover of over CHF20 million ($22 million) grew more strongly than smaller ones. Their number of guests rose by 5%, while companies with a turnover of less than CHF2 million fell by 35%. However, the larger companies are also at higher altitudes, the association explained.
Adapted from German by DeepL/dkk/dos
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Popular Stories
More
Life & Aging
Zurich: how the world capital of housing shortages is tackling the problem
Swiss defence minister reaffirms military cooperation with neighbours
This content was published on
On his first trip abroad in government, Defence Minister Martin Pfister visited the Swiss troops taking part in a major exercise in Austria.
Trade unions mobilise against right-wing extremist circles
This content was published on
Under the motto 'Solidarity instead of agitation - strong together!' May Day events are taking place throughout Switzerland this Thursday.
Left-wing extremists in Switzerland call for ‘militant’ rallies on May 1
This content was published on
Left-wing extremist groups are mobilising on social media. The violent activist scene is a focal point for the intelligence community.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.