Active Promotion Of Sustainable Travel In Salzburg With The "Winter Locomotive"
The state of Salzburg, SalzburgerLand Tourism, Saalbach, Austria Tourism and ÖBB are taking strong measures to ensure sustainable travel to the World Cup state of Salzburg.
The train plays an important role when traveling to a winter holiday in Austria. 19 percent of domestic guests travel by train, and for guests from Austria's largest foreign market of origin, Germany, the figure is 8 percent (source: T-MONA Winter 2023/24). Statistics Austria calculated a significant increase in demand: in the third quarter of 2024, rail travel in Austria rose by more than three percent. This share is expected to continue to rise in the future.
"The Ski World Championships represent a further boost for tourism in Salzburg. We are delighted to be the host country for such a major sporting event," says Hans Scharfetter, member of the state parliament. "Public transport is the perfect choice for getting to the competitions: relaxed, without traffic jams and climate-friendly. That is why all partners have spared no effort to make public transport travel to the World Championships as pleasant as possible by investing in infrastructure, expanding services and providing other incentives. These infrastructure projects and the expansion of public transport are adding value to the region. With the winter locomotive, we are clearly communicating the anticipation of this major event and our commitment to sustainable mobility and showing what Salzburg has to offer: excellent slopes, first-class infrastructure and warm hospitality," says Scharfetter.
Branded locomotive as sustainability ambassador
In order to further promote sustainable travel, a locomotive was branded as part of a cooperation between SalzburgerLand Tourism, ÖBB, Austria Werbung and Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn, which will travel between Austria and Germany for a period of one year. At an event at Salzburg Central Station on December 17, 2024, the locomotive was ceremoniously christened by double world champion and overall World Cup winner Alexandra Meissnitzer.
"The SalzburgerLand Tourism Company (SLTG) has been working closely with the ÖBB for many years. This long-standing partnership gave rise to the idea of a branded locomotive for this winter, also for the Ski World Championships. The winter locomotive will carry the message of skiing and winter enthusiasm throughout Austria and our most important market of origin, Germany," says SLTG Managing Director Leo Bauernberger. "The locomotive is not only an eye-catcher, but a rolling ambassador for our winter sports regions and underlines the importance of SalzburgerLand as an attractive, high-quality and sustainable destination for winter holidays."
ÖBB expands its services
"The cooperation 'By train into winter' not only brings great advantages for spectators of the Ski World Championships in February, but also symbolizes the steadily growing cooperation between SalzburgerLand Tourism and ÖBB. We have been working closely and successfully together for over a decade and have organized numerous successful campaigns and special trains for major events. With this project, we are creating an additional capacity of around 8,400 seats and guaranteeing our customers a climate-friendly journey to the competitions," says Sabine Stock, CEO of ÖBB-Personenverkehr AG.
In order to enable arrival and departure to the competitions on the same day, the ÖBB operates a direct train from Vienna to Maishofen-Saalbach and back on every race day, with additional direct connections on February 8th and 9th for the arrival and departure of multi-day guests.
Modernized Maishofen-Saalbach stop
In the run-up to the World Cup, the Maishofen-Saalbach stop was modernized. The new covered platforms, with their length of 220 meters, allow double train sets to stop, are accessible by lifts and connected by a pedestrian underpass. Modern information systems such as monitors and loudspeakers provide real-time information on train times. A modern waiting area protects against wind and weather. There is now a bike & ride and a new park & ride facility at the station.
Alois Hasenauer, Mayor of Saalbach Hinterglemm: "A modern ski area needs a modern connection. With the new Maishofen-Saalbach train station, we are offering a climate-friendly alternative for travel to both the FIS Alpine Ski World Championships Saalbach 2025 and the World Cup destination in the 2024/25 winter season. These will not only be a sporting highlight, but with the new train station they will also be a model for sustainable mobility. Our guests and World Cup fans will be able to travel to the Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn in an environmentally friendly way."
World Cup of great importance for tourism
Astrid Steharnig-Staudinger, Managing Director of the Austrian Tourist Board, underlines the importance of the Ski World Championships for tourism. "We know from the past that major sporting events have lasting positive effects. The World Championships draw international attention to Austria and the region. For us as the Austrian Tourist Board, this is a good opportunity to convey our current brand presence, the Austrian attitude to life, with a wide reach - on the branded locomotive and with numerous other communication measures as part of the World Championships." These include the marketing flagship "World Championship Underdog", events at Austria's most important winter markets, social media activities, a TV campaign in Germany and Austria. The Austrian Tourist Board is also a partner of the host house "Home of Snow" and will hold two exclusive events there.
"With the locomotive branding and an associated campaign, we are pushing the issue of sustainable travel - to the World Cup, but also to winter holidays in Austria in general," says Steharnig-Staudinger. "Another focus of our communication is on young skiers. We are underlining the attractiveness of skiing/winter sports for all age groups, with a special focus on young people."
