Swiss valley ready for winter tourists after landslide

Lötschental is ready for winter tourists after landslide Keystone-SDA

Six months after the landslide in Blatten, southwestern Switzerland, tourism managers in the Lötschental are cautiously optimistic about the winter season. A hotel is being built on the Lauchernalp to compensate for lost capacity.

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“The construction of the hotel is on track,” said Mathias Fleischmann, head of Lauchernalp Bergbahnen and Lötschental Marketing, in an interview with the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA. “The interior work is currently being completed and the official opening is on December 19. We will welcome the first guests from December 25.”

The provisional hotel, whose construction costs amount to CHF4.5 million ($5.6 million), comprises 19 rooms with a total of 64 beds and is located directly at the mountain station of the Lauchernalp cable car at 1,970 metres above sea level. The landslide on May 28 destroyed three hotels in Blatten with a total of around 100 beds. According to Fleischmann, the new hotel compensates for at least part of the capacity lost as a result of the disaster.

+ Landslide village: foundation stone laid for new Blatten

High demand

Reservations are not yet possible, but the interest is enormous. “We are currently being overrun by enquiries,” said Fleischmann. Two owners of the destroyed hotels in Blatten each have a 45% stake in the new building; the Lauchernalp mountain railways has a 10% share. Public funds also flowed into the project.

The hotel with the name “Momentum” is intended as a temporary solution: for five to seven years until a new building can be realised in the valley.

However, the loss of the two group accommodations cannot be compensated for. “The group houses in Blatten were always fully occupied by ski camps in winter – these are now missing,” Fleischmann said. This not only affects the number of overnight stays, but also the sale of ski passes. He expects the mountain railways to lose around CHF150,000 in revenue this winter.

According to Fleischmann, the loss of holiday flats in Blatten is less serious. Most of the holiday flats in the Lötschental are located in Kippel and Wiler. “Blatten’s share of the valley’s holiday flats was around 20%, while the share of winter overnight stays in holiday flats was around 15%,” he explained.

+ Blatten: what price for preserving Swiss mountain life?

It is impossible to predict how the winter season, which starts on December 13, will actually turn out, he said. The results depend too much on factors such as weather and snow conditions. Day tourists in particular often decide on a trip at short notice due to the weather conditions. The ratio of day visitors to overnight guests in the Lötschental is around 50:50.

Bottomed out

The tourism director is satisfied with the number of day visitors in the past summer season. The mountain railways even recorded a slight increase, said Fleischmann.

“The drop in overnight stays was over 50% in the summer and was therefore drastic, but we have now bottomed out,” he said. The landslide destroyed three hotels in Blatten and cut off another from the outside world, reducing the valley’s hotel capacity by 70% in one fell swoop.

For the coming summer season, Fleischmann is expecting an increase in particular from the Hotel Fafleralp, which is expected to re-open. The hotel has around 100 beds and is the largest accommodation provider in the Lötschental.

He assumes that the emergency road to Fafleralp will be tarmacked in winter. In summer, a shuttle bus service to the hotel, which is particularly popular with nature lovers, could be set up.

However, the future of the camping facilities in the Lötschental remains unclear. The two campsites in Kippel and on the Fafleralp have been closed since the landslide.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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