{"id":1959434,"date":"2026-05-28T09:14:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T06:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1959434"},"modified":"2026-05-28T09:14:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T06:14:29","slug":"switzerland-skier-visits-hold-firm-despite-slow-start-to-2025-26-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1959434","title":{"rendered":"Switzerland Skier Visits Hold Firm Despite Slow Start to 2025-26 Season"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Verbier\"\"Verbier\"
Verbier, Switzerland. | Image: World Ski Award<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Switzerland\u2019s ski industry has released its preliminary report<\/a> on 2025-26 skier visits. <\/strong>Seilbahnen Schweiz<\/a> reported a broadly stable winter, with a strong late-season recovery offsetting what looked, in the early months, like a season heading in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n

Seilbahnen Schweiz, the Swiss cable car industry association, released its end-of-season data on May 6, 2026.<\/strong> The association tracks skier visits from its more than 140 member companies and saw the 2025-26 season finish just 2% below the record-breaking previous winter. Measured against the five-year average, which includes a COVID winter, visits were up 13%. The industry is calling the season a success. \u201cOverall, the industry looks back on the winter season with great satisfaction,\u201d Berno Stoffel, director of Seilbahnen Schweiz, stated in the press release<\/a>. \u201cThe desire for the mountain is unbroken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking across Badrutt\u2019s Palace into St. Moritz village. | Image: Ski St. Moritz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Slow Start, a Strong Finish<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The season began badly.<\/strong> Poor snowfall between November and mid-December weighed heavily on early visitation, and Christmas trading failed to make up the shortfall. The natioanl \u201csports holiday\u201d period in February eventually returned to near last year\u2019s levels, but the first half of the season left a deficit that looked difficult to recover.<\/p>\n

The turnaround came in the final stretch.<\/strong> From mid-March onward, visitor numbers surged 28% compared to the same period a year earlier, driven by late-season snowfall followed by an extended period of high-pressure weather. That recovery effectively absorbed the weak start.<\/p>\n

April was the standout month.<\/strong> Guest numbers rose 23% year-on-year and 37% against the five-year average, as stable conditions delivered firm morning snow, soft spring afternoons and what operators described as \u201calmost early summer days\u201d on the mountains. Many Swiss mountain railways extended their seasons and organised events through to the last snow, capitalising on demand that would previously have been considered outside the traditional ski calendar.<\/p>\n