After a poor winter season in 2015/16, Reto Gurtner is planning for change. The president and CEO of the Weisse Arena Group wants above all to adjust capacity to demand.
Reto Gurtner, last winter was a sobering one for the entire mountain railway industry in Graubünden. Now the Weisse Arena Group's financial results are also available. What do they look like?
For the first time in the company's history, we have to report a loss of 1 million Swiss francs. On the other hand, our cash flow is still over 17 million Swiss francs.
What are the reasons for the poor result?
We felt the full force of the weak euro and strong Swiss franc for the first time. We have no leeway to respond to this currency problem. Wage levels in Switzerland are high, and there is nothing we can do to change that. That is why we absolutely must initiate radical changes. Now we have the opportunity and the time to act. Unfortunately, the bad weather also played a negative role.
What does the future hold? Does the Weisse Arena Group need to set a new course?
Despite all the difficulties, we are still a healthy company. But we must act now to ensure that this remains the case. We need to realign our offering and adapt our capacities to the new circumstances, because we do not believe that tourism in Switzerland will grow in the foreseeable future. The Weisse Arena Group must become more compact and even more efficient in terms of its mountain railways. We need to become more imaginative because the traditional approach no longer works. We need to join forces and become more agile in our planning. We also need to be prepared to let go of things and not cling to something simply out of habit or tradition.
Our future lies in digitalization and its advances. This is the only way to realize our plans and achieve the required flexibility.
,
What does the new path you want to take mean for the services offered on the mountain?
It is clear that we have more than enough capacity on the slopes. This is designed for well over 1 million visitors per season, which we were 20 percent away from last winter. Basically, our ski resort is too big today. If we build a new facility on the mountain in the future, it will only be if we can create a new offering and, as a result, new demand. It is no longer enough to build a lift that is technically innovative or simply gets you from point A to point B. We now have to look at our lifts from a different perspective. This includes questions such as "Do all lifts have to be open, even if there are only a few people in the area?" After all, such questions also have implications for personnel and fixed costs.
Your goals are ambitious, and the word "digitalization" keeps coming up in this context. Will this bring about an upswing?
Our future lies in digitalization and its advances. This is the only way to realize our plans and achieve the required flexibility. Fortunately, we have already embarked on this path. I am referring primarily to our LAAX Inside app, which will be presented in a new and improved form this summer. We are in the middle of a process. Ultimately, we will only offer products that can be sold digitally. The app gives us enormous scope for creativity. It basically works like a passe-partout or like membership of a club, in which we can also include the local population and second home owners.
What are the advantages of the app for guests?
With the LAAX Inside app, we offer an attractive communication and decision-making tool. Each user receives exactly the information and offers that interest them. They gain transparency, meaning they get insight into our decisions and can see how much they are valued as a guest. We can give them privileges or exclusive offers, or let them participate in a special project. And then every service can be rated. This enables us to improve and optimize our offerings, which ultimately makes them happier.
And what advantages does it bring to the company?
For us, the LAAX Inside app is primarily a tool for improving quality. It enables us to make better use of resources, optimize them, and reduce personnel costs. The increased agility gives us a commercial advantage and, hopefully, more satisfied guests. At the same time, we learn more about our guests and their needs because we are in direct contact with them. We can improve the quality of our communication and better tailor our offerings to demand.
What challenges does the destination of Flims Laax Falera face?
Tourism is undergoing a radical transformation, which means that supply must be adapted to declining or changing demand. It is therefore essential to be innovative and create new products. Mountain tourism in the Alpine region has become an interchangeable and comparable product and will ultimately become purely a question of price. This puts Swiss mountain tourism at a disadvantage in the European Alpine region. In any case, we will not get anywhere by following traditional paths, using methods from the last century, or calling for subsidies. We need to radically rethink our approach and initiate structural change. Increasing bureaucracy also fuels mistrust, which in turn paralyzes the urgently needed social renewal and innovation.•
