10 Years Of A Fresh Start At Hochkar: A Success Story

Over the last ten years, the tourist offerings on Hochkar have continually developed. ecoplus supervisory board chairman Jochen Danninger, representing state governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner, looked back on the success story together with ecoplus managing director Helmut Miernicki, Gerhard Wendl, chairman of the board of JUFA Hotels and Claudia Glück-Hofbauer, managing director of Höhentrainingzentrum Hochkar GmbH.

After a phase of realignment at the Hochkar Bergbahnen, the then Hochkar school ski center was taken over by ecoplus Alpin GmbH from the previous sponsoring association in 2013 and completely modernized and a wellness area was also added, so that JUFA Hotels was the new tenant from the 2013/2014 winter season The “JUFA Hochkar Sport-Resort” (today “JUFA Hotel Hochkar***”) was able to begin year-round operations.

At the same time, a group of regional entrepreneurs around Michael and Johannes Putz and Thomas Geischläger completely renovated the JoSchi Sporthaus Hochkar and expanded it to include equipment rental and an additional wing, among other things.

“In 2012, we founded a rescue company for the Hochkar Bergbahnen through ecoplus Alpin GmbH together with the Schröcksnadel Group. Our goal as the state of Lower Austria was very clear: create good conditions for private investors in the area, Johannes Putz with his JoSchi businesses is the best example. He and his shareholders must be able to rely on the infrastructure operations of the mountain railways,” says ecoplus supervisory board chairman Jochen Danninger.

“At the beginning of 2013 we decided that the Hochkar school ski center needed a modern support structure and professional management and that investments were necessary for this. We therefore addressed this issue in coordination with the Ministry of Education through ecoplus Alpin GmbH. In total, around 8.3 million euros net have been invested since 2012 in connection with the JUFA Hochkar and 8.9 million euros net in the Hochkar mountain railway area,” explains Jochen Danninger together with the responsible managing director Claudia Glück-Hofbauer.

Gerhard Wendl, CEO of JUFA Hotels, and operator of the JUFA Hotel Hochkar*** since Christmas 2013, emphasizes the advantages of the location: “Due to the great location directly in the ski area and the good sports infrastructure, we were able to achieve very good occupancy throughout the year right from the start . In general, year-round operation is the future, there is great potential for hiking and cycling in the cool alpine summer.”

The development of Lower Austria's ski areas is an important ecoplus pillar. In total, ecoplus Alpin is responsible for five locations: Hochkar, Lackenhof am Ötscher, Annaberg, Mönichkirchen and St. Corona am Wechsel. “The Hochkar is the tourist powerhouse of Göstling an der Ybbs and the entire region. With investments such as the Hochkar 360° Skytour or the via ferratas on Hochkar, we show that we are consistently following the path of year-round mountain tourism in Lower Austria,” emphasizes ecoplus Managing Director Helmut Miernicki.

The success story in numbers

Around 300,000 overnight stays have been recorded at Hochkar in summer and winter over the last 10 years. In the twelve winter seasons since the Hochkar Bergbahnen restarted in 2012/2013, a total of 1,827,331 first entries (so-called Skier Days) were counted, although this year's winter season has not yet been completed. If conditions are very good, skiing will continue until Easter Monday, April 1, 2024. There will be more additions to the 165,883 first entries in this year's winter season (as of March 19, 2024 included).

During summer operations, a total of 178,874 admissions were counted at the Hochkar Bergbahnen in eleven summers since 2013.