Cable cars and energy - facts and myths

The Republic of Austria is a winter sports nation. Beyond the sporting successes of the Austrian Ski Federation (ÖSV) stars, this becomes particularly clear upon closer examination of the economic data. Winter sports enthusiasts alone generate annual gross revenues of €11.2 billion in Austria. This secures jobs and, above all, generates billions in tax revenue for the state budget. This alone demonstrates the importance of winter tourism for Austria. One would therefore expect winter sports to receive appropriate political and media recognition.

But quite the opposite has been true in recent years: It's fascinating to observe how almost exclusively negative headlines have cast winter tourism in Austria in a bad light. This ranged from the first official Covid-19 cases in Austria in Ischgl, the ski instructor cluster in Jochberg, summer glacier skiing in Hintertux, and the rising cost of lift tickets to the current debate about the energy crisis. We don't mean to imply that everything was perfect, but there were certainly many positive aspects that have gone unmentioned.

Within the industry, there's almost a feeling that one media low point follows another, keeping them constantly in the spotlight. But is everything really as bad as it's been portrayed in recent years? Probably not! What is clear, however, is that winter sports are highly emotionally charged and polarize society. Precisely for this reason, it's important not to be swayed by headlines, but to objectively examine the data and facts. The Austrian Federal Economic Chamber has accordingly addressed the current energy crisis and is attempting to provide clarification. The aim is not to downplay the undeniable challenges ahead, but simply to paint a holistic picture in order to approach them with openness and avoid disproportionately weakening winter tourism through populist negative image campaigns, with unforeseeable consequences.

Cable cars and energy

Cable cars and skiing form the core infrastructure for alpine winter tourism, thus securing the livelihoods of thousands of businesses, their employees, and their families. Energy optimization measures have been developed and successfully implemented for years.

The electricity demand of all cable cars in Austria amounts to 750 GWh (1.2% of total domestic energy consumption), including artificial snowmaking. To give a sense of the scale: more than 800 GWh are wasted annually in Austria through standby power consumption alone.

The total energy consumption per skier per day (for cable cars, snowmaking, slope preparation, catering, heating and infrastructure) is 18.0 kWh.

Comparison of ski resort and indoor swimming pool:

Approximately 525,000 kWh per winter are needed to provide artificial snow for a ski resort with 30 hectares of slopes. A municipal indoor swimming pool has a requirement of approximately 750,000 kWh per year.

Further comparisons:

• Driving from Vösendorf to Baden in a modern mid-range car (7 liters per 100 km) covers a distance of 26 km and takes approximately 23 minutes, which is equivalent to a full day of skiing.

• If a person flies from Vienna to Palma de Mallorca, that person could go skiing for 30 days in Austria for the same energy expenditure.

• If a person flies 8,906 km from Vienna to the Caribbean, that person could, for the same energy expenditure, go skiing for 105 days in Austria and take the cable car every day from July to September for hikes in the mountains.

• If a person travels 7,780 km from Hamburg to New York on a medium-sized modern cruise ship, that person could go skiing in Austria for 351 days with the same energy expenditure.

WHAT DOES AUSTRIA GET IN THIS?

• Winter sports enthusiasts using cable cars generate gross revenues of around €11.2 billion annually (cable cars, accommodation, catering, sports retail, etc.).

• The value creation multiplier is 8.3, meaning that €1,000 in wages, salaries, profits and depreciation for cable cars generates €8,300 in revenue for the region!

• The Republic of Austria benefits from annual sales tax revenue of over €1 billion.

Prime example: Gletscherbahnen Kaprun AG:

Energy production and consumption will continue to be a major topic of discussion. The transition to renewable energy sources is expected to be the defining issue in our society for years to come. Across all sectors, it is essential to develop collaborative solutions to preserve prosperity and jobs.

The fact that energy problems are not new for winter sports resorts is demonstrated by the example of Gletscherbahnen Kaprun AG. How they are dealing with this can be read in the following article: https://www.snowsports.at/post/kitzsteinhorn-energiequellen