General Assembly Of Weisse Arena AG Held
The 62nd Annual General Meeting of Weisse Arena AG took place in the hangar on the Crap Sogn Gion at 2,252 m above sea level. M. instead. Around 500 shareholders were present when the Chairman of the Board of Directors Reto Gurtner, the CEO Markus Wolf and the CFO Romano De Giorgi reviewed the 2020/21 financial year.
A BUSINESS YEAR IN THE SIGN OF CORONA
The summer of superlatives
The 2020/21 financial year began in lockdown due to federal measures in the first wave of pandemics. When the mountain railways were able to operate again under certain restrictions in June and something like normalcy returned to everyday life for the Swiss, the summer season really kicked off. Due to the constant restrictions on travel abroad and the simultaneous urge of Mr. and Mrs. Swiss to plan a change of scenery after the lockdown, a tourist summer season developed like our destination had never seen before. With 172 153 first-time admissions (previous year 127 793) and 64 954 overnight stays (previous year 39 579), the Weisse Arena Group once again recorded a marked increase in summer numbers compared to the record previous year. In addition to the numbers, it should be noted that a large number of new guests, especially younger ones, were welcomed to the destination. It is to be hoped that as many of them as possible could be enthusiastic about summer holidays in the mountains in the long term. Another feature of the past summer was the significantly increased demand for holiday apartments, a trend that was certainly reinforced by Corona. The rocksresort recorded 46,001 overnight stays, a double that of the previous year. Another feature of the past summer was the significantly increased demand for holiday apartments, a trend that was certainly reinforced by Corona. The rocksresort recorded 46,001 overnight stays, a double that of the previous year. Another feature of the past summer was the significantly increased demand for holiday apartments, a trend that was certainly reinforced by Corona. The rocksresort recorded 46,001 overnight stays, a double that of the previous year.
The uncertainties before winter
In the course of autumn, dark clouds came in for winter tourism in the Alps. In all neighboring countries it was decided to completely close the mountain railway operations for the winter or, in the case of Austria, to practically stop winter tourism. So the pressure on Switzerland increased immeasurably to keep the railways also closed and to severely restrict winter tourism. Fortunately, the Graubünden government was always aware of the economic importance of tourism for the canton of Graubünden and was looking for ways and means to keep mountain railways open and to make winter tourism possible with restrictions. Ultimately, Councilor Marcus Caduff, in particular, is
The Weisse Arena Gruppe as a driver of innovation
The Weisse Arena Gruppe already began preparing concepts during the first lockdown in spring 2020, which should enable a safe tourist winter season even in the event of a second pandemic wave. In addition to the usual operational measures, three groundbreaking innovations were also prepared:
1. All self-service restaurants were completely reconfigured and rebuilt under the working title “Fresh & Easy”. The guest is able to order and pay for drinks and food from his seat via the INSIDE LAAX app. Then it is brought to him at the table. In addition to this improvement in guest convenience, the supply chains and provision processes have also been completely redesigned in order to be able to react much better to the strongly fluctuating number of guests in the future.
2. As the second innovation of the summer, a completely new Covid test system was developed for employees and guests. Both the test acceptance by means of a spit test, which can be carried out independently, as well as the pooling process in the laboratory and the system for company tests were used for the first time in Switzerland when it was introduced in mid-December. The processes developed in and for Laax have now become the Swiss standard.
3. The third innovation concerns ticket sales. In autumn it was decided and communicated that day ski passes will only be sold online from winter on. This made it possible to set quotas in sales and thus limit the number of guests in the area. Thanks to these innovations and all common measures, the Weisse Arena Gruppe was able to state at the beginning of winter that it was well prepared for the winter with its protection concept.
The growth run
The start of the winter was not only politically difficult. The bad snow situation at higher altitudes as well as the constantly changing regulatory framework conditions for the operation, especially in the catering sector, also hit the organization hard. An extremely weak Christmas season had to be recorded. The great uncertainty of the guests in the aftermath of the political discussions, the thin snow conditions with numerous closed systems and the Covid-related quota for the sale of day passes led to a loss of sales of around CHF 7 million over the festive season alone. With the growing sense of security of the guests in the course of January, Thanks to the successful implementation of the LAAX OPEN thanks to the test system and the massive snowfalls, the number of first-time admissions steadily approached the “normal” figures until the end of January. With the open terraces and the beautiful weather in February, combined with a very valuable media presence due to the test system, the further course of the season developed the longer the more positive.
Even the renewed closure of the terraces at the end of February could no longer affect the further course of the season, and the increase could no longer be stopped by incomprehensible political decisions. All in all, a very decent winter was recorded with 981 041 first entries (previous year with lockdown 874 386). Even financially, the Weisse Arena Group can speak of a good financial year despite the most difficult circumstances. At CHF 89.5 million, net sales are CHF 1.4 million higher than the 2019/20 financial year, but at CHF 7.5 million still significantly below the strong 2018/19 financial year. Thanks to the successful breathing on the cost side and the consistent use of the short-time working instrument, EBITDA of CHF 23.6 million was brought back to the margin level of the 2018/19 and 2017/18 financial years despite the extremely difficult framework conditions. The consolidated group result after the economically necessary depreciation amounts to CHF 2.6 million and corresponds to the performance of the pandemic insurance. Thanks to the successful breathing on the cost side and the consistent use of the short-time working instrument, EBITDA of CHF 23.6 million was brought back to the margin level of the 2018/19 and 2017/18 financial years despite the extremely difficult framework conditions. The consolidated group result after the economically necessary depreciation amounts to CHF 2.6 million and corresponds to the performance of the pandemic insurance. Thanks to the successful breathing on the cost side and the consistent use of the short-time working instrument, EBITDA of CHF 23.6 million was brought back to the margin level of the 2018/19 and 2017/18 financial years despite the extremely difficult framework conditions. The consolidated group result after the economically necessary depreciation amounts to CHF 2.6 million and corresponds to the performance of the pandemic insurance.
Outstanding teamwork
"The performance of the employees of the Weisse Arena Gruppe in the past financial year deserves the greatest respect. In some cases, several times a week, framework conditions were changed, modifications had to be made and processes had to be adapted. With how much passion for the Weisse Arena Gruppe, with how much competence and how proactively and thoughtfully all of this was mastered, was simply outstanding. The first and most important thank you goes to all employees of the Weisse Arena Gruppe. Another thanks goes to Government Councilor Marcus Caduff, who defended himself with his last commitment and great vehemence against the huge pressure from home and abroad and, together with his Graubünden government colleagues, made groundbreaking decisions for the implementation of the winter season. We would also like to warmly thank the industry associations Bergbahnen Graubünden with Martin Hug and Marcus Gschwend as well as Seilbahnen Schweiz with Hans Wicki and Berno Stoffel, who had also shown a great deal of energy and competence for the industry. The test concept is a group consisting of Prof. Joachim Fischer and Dr. Michaela Weber from the University of Heidelberg, the Risch and SwissAnalysis laboratories, the Hamilton company and the support of the management staff of the Canton of Graubünden under the direction of Martin Bühler. Last but not least, we would like to thank our valued guests. A successful 2020/21 financial year would not have been possible without your loyalty and trust and without the numerous encouraging feedback. who had also campaigned for the industry with a lot of energy and competence. The test concept is a group consisting of Prof. Joachim Fischer and Dr. Michaela Weber from the University of Heidelberg, the Risch and SwissAnalysis laboratories, the Hamilton company and the support of the management staff of the Canton of Graubünden under the direction of Martin Bühler. Last but not least, we would like to thank our valued guests. A successful 2020/21 financial year would not have been possible without your loyalty and trust and without the numerous encouraging feedback. who had also campaigned for the industry with a lot of energy and competence. The test concept is a group consisting of Prof. Joachim Fischer and Dr. Michaela Weber from the University of Heidelberg, the Risch and SwissAnalysis laboratories, the Hamilton company and the support of the management staff of the Canton of Graubünden under the direction of Martin Bühler. Last but not least, we would like to thank our valued guests. A successful 2020/21 financial year would not have been possible without your loyalty and trust and without the numerous encouraging feedback.
"Thanks to the Risch and SwissAnalysis laboratories, the Hamilton company and the support of the management staff of the Canton of Graubünden under the direction of Martin Bühler. Last but not least, we would like to thank our valued guests. A successful 2020/21 financial year would not have been possible without your loyalty and trust and without the numerous encouraging feedback. Thanks to the Risch and SwissAnalysis laboratories, the Hamilton company and the support of the management staff of the Canton of Graubünden under the direction of Martin Bühler. Last but not least, we would like to thank our valued guests. A successful 2020/21 financial year would not have been possible without your loyalty and trust and without the numerous encouraging feedback.
