Fewer days with snowfall, warmer winters, shrinking glaciers, and earlier springs. The outlook does not look bright for skiing in the Alps. In Sweden, Skistar had to activate its snow guarantee in some places during the last winter season week, when the slopes simply did not meet the requirements.
Stefan Sjöstrand feels a great concern about climate change, even though he does not see a major impact on the Scandinavian destinations.
We are grateful that our five winter destinations are on the right side, unlike if you look at (other) Europe where we get very short seasons, he says.
Can scale up
Eight ski giants are now launching a collaboration to do their part to reduce the greenhouse effect. All have already individual sustainability strategies.
We are the world's fourth-largest company in alpine tourism. At the same time, we felt that we cannot do it alone and that led to the initiative to create this alliance, says Stefan Sjöstrand.
The Global Sustainability Ski Alliance for sustainability – will primarily affect the supply chain. Skistar has, for example, bought its four first electric-powered piste machines, and with the help of the alliance, twelve will be produced next year.
We (Skistar) have a total of 77 piste machines, but if we add all the other companies, we suddenly get several hundred. Then we can together help our suppliers scale up their production, he says.
Working for lift
The dream is to be able to order the world's first lift in fossil-free steel.
If we are the only ones asking for fossil-free steel, it will continue to be very expensive, but if we are several who want to buy, we can enable our suppliers to actually produce fossil-free steel, says Sjöstrand.
For skiing tourism, the guests' transportation is also a problem, especially those who choose to fly to the slopes. Italian Kronplatz, for example, owns over 100 buses and operates public transportation in the Val Pusteria region.
If it turns out that this is a very successful initiative to buy a bus company, then it may be something we should do forward as well, says Stefan Sjöstrand.
The Global Sustainability Ski Alliance – the global ski alliance for sustainability – is a collaboration for the skiing tourism industry. It was signed on Wednesday.
The eight companies in the alliance are Skistar (Sweden/Norway), Compagnie des Alpes (France), Kronplatz (Italy), Kitzbühel (Austria/Germany), Laax (Switzerland), Oberstdorf (Austria/Germany), Levi (Finland), and NZ Ski (New Zealand). Negotiations are underway with the American Alterra Mountain Company and Vail Resorts.
