Lenzerheide: Fall In Overnight Stays In Winter - Record Numbers In Summer

Lenzerheide Marketing and Support AG (LMS AG) presented a positive annual financial statement at today's General Meeting with a profit of CHF 1,202. Looking at the 2019/20 overnight stay statistics for the Lenzerheide holiday region, there is still a pale aftertaste: -8.2% compared to the previous year. The previous record numbers in the summer of 2020 with + 56% in the hotel industry as of the end of July 2020 (Vaz / Obervaz) make tourism officials in Lenzerheide cautiously optimistic. 

In autumn 2019 Lenzerheide Marketing und Support AG (LMS AG) celebrated its 10th anniversary. In the past ten years, LMS AG has steadily developed as a destination marketing and management organization and successfully positioned the Lenzerheide holiday region with various projects and major events together with service providers, mountain railways, municipalities and other partners. “By mid-March 2020, the figures have shown that the ongoing processing of the summer topics of mountain biking and hiking, as well as the large investments in the two winter products, alpine snow sports and cross-country skiing / biathlon, are bearing fruit accordingly. With the associated event strategy, the Lenzerheide holiday region is now one of the most successful mountain destinations in Switzerland, ”emphasizes Bruno Fläcklin.

Fall in overnight stays due to corona lockdown

Following today's General Assembly, LMS AG published the 2019/20 Annual Report. With an operating income of around CHF 4.8 million and a direct marketing investment of CHF 2 million, it closed the financial year with a small profit of CHF 1,202. Despite the balanced business result, the past financial year is painful: Overnight stays in the Lenzerheide holiday region fell by 8.2% compared to the previous year to 1,538,360. 

The reduction in overnight stays of 137,552 is primarily due to the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic from mid-March 2020. In addition, the overnight stays in Brienz / Brinzauls (2018/19: 37,565) are no longer part of the Lenzerheide holiday region due to the non-extended service agreement with the Albula / Alvra community. With a look at the overnight stay statistics for the winter season 2019/20 of the municipality of Vaz / Obervaz at the end of February 2020 - hotel industry + 9.1%, large holiday home rentals + 2.8%, group accommodation + 1.0% - LMS AG shows itself with the development before the Corona- Still extremely satisfied with the crisis.

Major project «Bike Kingdom»

In addition to the implementation of specific families and Nordic campaigns, the LMS AG marketing team dealt with a major major project in the past financial year: the “Bike Kingdom Lenzerheide”. With the launch of the Bike Kingdom, LMS AG has repositioned its entire mountain bike communication for the 2020 summer season. “This gives the topic of mountain biking in Lenzerheide the size and importance we have been working towards in recent years,” emphasizes Marc Schlüssel, Head of Marketing / Communication / Evensupport in the 2019/20 annual report. 

In retrospect, the corona crisis and the associated event cancellations or postponements unfortunately also overshadow the very successful Lenzerheidner event season 2019/20. In addition to the successful implementation of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup and the premiere of the Swiss Epic in Graubünden, the IBU Youth & Junior World Championships in January and February 2020 are particularly worth mentioning. Thanks to excellent organization and a lot of passion, Lenzerheide and the Biathlon Arena in Lantsch became / Lenz perceived by the IBU, Swiss-Ski and the nations as an attractive organizer. An important milestone on the way to the first Biathlon World Cup in Lenzerheide.

Lantsch / Lenz municipality as new shareholder

LMS AG's shareholders were expanded in the 2019/20 financial year. The municipality of Lantsch / Lenz now has a 2% stake in LMS AG to the same extent as the municipalities of Vaz / Obervaz and Churwalden. The shares were transferred to the municipality in equal parts by the major shareholders Lenzerheide Bergbahnen AG and Lenzerheide Tourismus, now 47% each. As a representative of the municipality of Lantsch / Lenz, Marianne Diebold completes the eight-member board of directors of LMS AG. «As President of this body, I appreciate the successful composition of the Board of Directors. The high and multi-layered professional competence, as well as the consistent proportion between women and men, enables a high quality exchange ”, emphasizes Ernst“ Aschi ”Wyrsch.

Looking to the future - cautiously optimistic

The Corona crisis has fundamentally changed the topics of travel, mobility, but also security. The tourism experts agree: the travel behavior of many people will change. “How long this will take and which changes are really sustainable is written in the stars,” emphasizes Bruno Fläcklin. He is also aware that the record numbers in the Corona summer for the municipality of Vaz / Obervaz - hotel business + 56.0%, large holiday home rental companies + 95.1%, group accommodation -48.8% at the end of July 2020 - will probably remain unmatched. “Even if we are aware of the extraordinary situation, the occupancy rate of our hotels with up to 100% over several weeks is remarkable”, adds the tourism director. 

However, the other side of the coin also came to light during this extraordinary summer. The extraordinarily high number of guests on the mountain and in the valley sparked an intense discussion within the destination about the coexistence of bikers and hikers. «Despite various unbundling measures that have already been taken, this summer again revealed several weaknesses in the road network. Together with the communities that are responsible for maintaining the bike and hiking trails, we will analyze these areas and work out ways to improve them, ”confirms Bruno Fläcklin.