Destination Gstaad - A Solid Winter With Stable Overnight Stays & Increased Turnover

Gstaad can look back on a successful winter. And that, although the weather gods didn't make it easy. Despite the historical lack of snow, the number of overnight stays remained stable compared to last year. It is pleasing that sales, on the other hand, recorded an increase of 12%. Hotels, restaurants and the mountain railways in the region are satisfied.

The hotel and catering industry closed the winter season with a stable result. By the end of February 2023, Gstaad had almost the same number of overnight stays as in the previous year. The significant increase in sales is particularly pleasing. According to the Gstaad tourism barometer from the University of Bern, the hotels participating in the survey can look forward to a 12% increase in sales, while the restaurants show an increase of 14%. In all areas, people are very satisfied with February. "This great result has confirmed our positioning as a pleasure destination," says Flurin Riedi, Tourism Director of Gstaad Saanenland Tourism. He emphasizes the wide range of offers for skiers, but also in the non-ski area: "Skiing is possible at up to 3000 meters, spread over eight mountains.

This winter season, more guests from abroad traveled to the holiday destination again, which has tended to stay away in recent years due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, Swiss guests will make up around 63% of the total in 2022/23. "In addition to the home market of Switzerland, we were also able to welcome more guests from the European market and foreign markets," summarizes the tourism director.

2000 children in snow sports camps

Gstaad also took care of the youngsters last season: around 380 children from western and German-speaking Switzerland were welcomed to the Deux im Schnee initiative, which was implemented in cooperation with the GoSnow.ch snow sports initiative. In addition to a lot of action-packed time in the snow, the focus of this project was primarily on language exchange among the participants. All in all, more than 2000 children took part in various snow sports camps in the Gstaad region this winter season.

Without snow sports instructors, these camps could not even take place. As part of the Swiss Snow Happening at Lenk, they were honored and celebrated in March 2023. A total of 822 snow sports instructors competed for the crown for the best snow sports instructor in all of Switzerland. Very gratifying: In the end, the Gstaad ski instructor, family man and farmer Björn Brand was convincing. He is this year's King.

Little snow, great effort of the mountain railways

The holiday destination was challenged by the weather conditions. There was a lack of snow at the end of December and in the first half of January. So not an easy start for Bergbahnen Destination Gstaad AG: "The changeable weather with the wet south-west location that persisted at the beginning of winter presented us with major challenges," says Matthias In-Albon, Director of Bergbahnen Destination Gstaad AG. But in January, according to In-Albon, the season got going with the much-awaited snowfall. «February brought an excellent result. But this winter was more reserved than the very strong previous years. » According to the director, it was the employees who really shone during this time with their tireless commitment and motivation.

Gstaad-Saanenland tourism

Gstaad Saanenland Tourism, as the official destination management organization of the Gstaad region, is committed to the regional development of offers, is responsible for destination marketing and, in addition to the eight tourist offices in the municipalities of Gsteig, Lauenen, Saanen and Zweisimmen, also operates various tourist infrastructure facilities. In addition to supporting the service providers through active exchange and the passing on of specialist knowledge, Gstaad Saanenland Tourism networks the various players along the tourism service chain.

Bergbahnen Destination Gstaad AG

Bergbahnen Destination Gstaad AG is one of the largest mountain railway companies in the Bernese Oberland. 350 employees in winter and 130 employees in summer ensure that all summer and winter activities on the mountain run smoothly every day. The company operates and maintains 34 transport systems, five of its own mountain houses and around 160 kilometers of slopes.