Weather-dependent day passes bring more guests to the ski area
Anyone who skied at Pizol or Belalp during the past winter season in bad weather received a discount on their day pass. The pricing system is part of a research project at the University of Applied Sciences St. Gallen.
An initial evaluation shows that the idea is having a positive impact on customer numbers. In the project, which is scheduled to run for two years, the ski resorts of Pizol in Sarganserland and Belalp in the Upper Valais are offering day passes whose price is reduced in bad weather. The University of Applied Sciences St. Gallen (FHS) wants to find out whether this can attract more guests than usual to the slopes in bad conditions. Depending on the weather, there will be up to 50 percent discount on the day pass, Jürg Vollmer, Head of Communications at Pizolbahnen, had announced before the season.
Snowfall discounts
In concrete terms, the project worked as follows: On a weekend when snowfall was forecast in parts, for example, the day tickets were offered at a 38 percent discount. Anyone who wanted to take advantage of this could print out a voucher on the Pizolbahnen website and receive the discount at the ticket office. Weather forecasts and prices were always available for seven days in advance.
A first evaluation after the end of the winter season now shows that new customers could be attracted with the weather-dependent prices. Customer acceptance was high, and the additional revenue exceeded the discounts, the FHS Institute for Business Management announced on Tuesday.
Although the project only started in mid-January, more than 2200 weather-dependent day tickets have been sold. 60 percent of the bookings were made "only due to the meteodynamic pricing", the statement says. The number of new customers is high: 20 percent for Belalp and 36 percent for Pizol. The research project will continue until the end of the 2017/18 winter season, after which an overall evaluation will be carried out. (SDA)
