Lenzerheide Holiday Region: Successful Business Year With Record Number Of Guests

The Lenzerheide holiday region also rates the second financial year, which was shaped by Covid-19, as a success due to the record high number of guests in summer 2021 and winter 2021/22. Lenzerheide Marketing und Support AG closes the 2021/22 financial year with a loss of CHF 33,796. With the destination and major event strategy, those responsible for tourism are currently working intensively on the strategic future of the Lenzerheide holiday region.

"An intense, challenging but ultimately successful financial year lies behind us," emphasizes Daniel Stiefel, Chairman of the Board of Directors of LMS AG, in the 2021/22 annual report. At the Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, Lenzerheide Marketing und Support AG (LMS AG) presented a loss of CHF 33,796. Operating income (CHF 4.9 million) and thus also marketing expenses (CHF 1.8 million) fell by CHF 400,624 and CHF 444,693 respectively compared to the previous year.

Daniel Stiefel considers the record number of guests in summer 2021 and winter 2021/22 to be successful. While the overnight stays are no longer recorded as usual due to the flat-rate guest taxes, the first entries of Lenzerheide Bergbahnen AG show a clear picture. With more than 1.4 million first-time visitors in winter 2021/22, there were more guests in the Arosa Lenzerheide ski area than ever since the opening of the ski area connection in winter 2013/14. The number of guests in summer 2021, at 206,840, is slightly below the exceptional summer of 2020 due to the mixed weather conditions, but is still well above the 5-year average (176,313 guests).

Expansion of management and new appointments to the board of directors

Internally, the 2021/22 financial year was characterized by personnel changes within the management and the board of directors. After Bruno Fläcklin made his position as Director of Tourism and Managing Director of LMS AG available at the end of 2021, an extremely suitable personality was found for the vacancy in Philipp Vassalli on May 1, 2022. "Philipp Vassalli optimally complements the skills of the new three-man management team, both professionally and personally," emphasizes Daniel Stiefel and adds: "The fact that we were able to keep Bruno Fläcklin as head of destination development with a part-time position in the management team is very important for us and the entire holiday region high value."

New brand identity for Lenzerheide

A major change that is visible from the outside took place in autumn 2021 with the new brand image of the Lenzerheide holiday region and the Arosa Lenzerheide ski area, based on the new brand strategy. This pursues the goal of creating trust, orientation and identification, increasing loyalty towards the guests and achieving differentiation in the market.

The new appearance was used for the first time with the launch of the Nordic campaign for winter 2021/22. Lenzerheide created a great deal of visibility and attention under the communicative guiding principle "This is Nordic", the advertising film produced for it and the newly created visual world for Nordic. «If you take a look at the cross-country ski runs and hiking trails, you will see that a new, more heterogeneous and younger target group is growing up. We want to pick them up in a more targeted way," explains Marc Schlüssel, CMO of the Lenzerheide holiday region, explaining the goal of the new Nordic campaign.

New destination and major event strategy for Lenzerheide

Two strategy papers are currently occupying those responsible for tourism in the Lenzerheide holiday region. By the end of 2022, the positioning and development projects of the holiday region for the next few years are to be defined and communicated in a cross-tourism committee. A little earlier, as part of the major event strategy, it should be defined which major events are to take place in Lenzerheide in the future and under what conditions. "We are aware that it is not a matter of course to hold major international events in the sports of biking, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and biathlon in the current cadence," emphasizes Daniel Stiefel. "In particular, the upcoming Biathlon World Cup 2025 not only brings a great opportunity, but also correspondingly great challenges for the destination."