Review, new projects and ideas from the Black Forest

At its most recent general meeting, the Wintersport-Arena Sauerland looked back on the past winter and set the course for the coming months. In addition to reviewing visitor numbers and the dissolution of the ski lift association, the focus was on continuing successful campaigns and ideas from the Black Forest. It became clear that sustainability, tourism acceptance and a holistic view of the region will play an even greater role in the future.

Full roads, no full lifts

The picture in the pre-season was striking: full roads in the core area, but no corresponding utilisation of the lifts. While some media reports were quick to blame the ski resorts for the long traffic jams, a closer look revealed that a significant proportion of guests were not there to ski, but for winter hiking or a spontaneous snow experience – according to the experience of the lift operators. In order to develop appropriate measures, it is therefore necessary to take a differentiated view of visitor flows. This distinction should be communicated more clearly in future.

Sauerland Ski Lift Association to be dissolved

After 53 years, the Sauerland Ski Lift Association is to be dissolved – a decision that was already made last year. In its early days, it provided guests in the main catchment areas with information about winter sports offers and snow conditions. After its foundation in 2003, this task was taken over by the Wintersport-Arena Sauerland. One of its most important areas of activity in the early years was applying for subsidies. In recent years, the association's main task has been the internal dissemination of information: new offers and developments were presented and exchange among members was promoted, especially on technical issues. To ensure that this important area is continued, the Wintersport-Arena Sauerland e. V. is establishing a technology working group that will meet at least once a year in future.

Successful awareness campaign

In recent months, the Wintersport-Arena Sauerland has been working intensively to raise awareness and counter widespread prejudices against ski resorts with accurate, verifiable facts. The focus was on topics such as energy consumption, water requirements and environmental protection. The campaign attracted a lot of attention and received positive feedback – including from other German ski resorts. Some even shared the vivid and entertaining presentations on their own channels. The campaign is set to continue this winter.
 

Focus remains on promoting youth

The promotion of youth will also continue. The Wintersport-Arena Sauerland provided newspapers and its own social media channels with ten skiing days for school classes to be raffled off. Depending on the ski resort and number of participants, the packages have a retail value of around €2,500. They included tickets, equipment and lessons. The campaign is supported and financed by the Wintersport-Arena Sauerland (€800), the participating ski resorts and ski schools, as well as the companies Leitner and Technoalpin.

The Winterberg ski lift carousel also launched the ‘Kids on Ski’ campaign, which allows pre-school children to stay in their parents' rooms free of charge and learn to ski in the ski resort. Both programmes are set to continue. A spontaneous campaign in the off-season also generated high demand: school classes received free ski passes and equipment at half price – almost 500 pupils signed up. The lift operators will decide whether to repeat this offer depending on the weather, availability and capacity utilisation.

Impulses from the Black Forest

Patrick Schreib, Managing Director of Hochschwarzwald Tourismus GmbH, highlighted parallels and differences with other regions in his keynote speech. In 2001, the Wintersport-Arena master plan was launched in the Sauerland winter sports arena with the aim of increasing snow reliability with the aid of technical snowmaking, which triggered a veritable wave of investment. When it was founded in 2004, however, the Black Forest focused on year-round offerings. In the Sauerland region, summer activities such as cycling and hiking have also been specifically promoted since the late 1990s, with the result that the region now achieves very good occupancy rates in summer. Nevertheless, winter continues to generate higher added value during the season.

Tourism acceptance as an important goal

The Black Forest takes a holistic approach. It considers the regional system in which locals, guests and businesses are interdependent. The aim is not to focus measures solely on visitor numbers, but also to ensure the quality of life of the population and the economic basis of businesses. The Wintersport-Arena Sauerland is now pursuing a similar path. Tourism acceptance is an important issue, especially in the core area.