A new survey created by Switzerland’s Bank Cler has highlighted the most expensive and most affordable Swiss ski resorts.
As the pandemic continues to hamper international travel and the ski season rolls in, the prospect of travelling to neighbouring Italy, France, or Austria for a ski trip is drifting slowly away. Many people in Switzerland are therefore changing their plans to ski on the country’s own mountains - something that can be very expensive if you don’t know the affordable spots.
As expected, the most famous Swiss ski resorts are pretty pricey. The survey found that Zermatt, Verbier and St. Moritz are the most expensive ski resorts in the country, costing around 5.000 Swiss francs for seven nights in a holiday apartment, an eight-day ski pass, ski school, equipment rental, and tourist tax.
By contrast, for the same level of service, it costs just 3.500 Swiss francs in a less well-known ski resort such as Aletsch Arena. Of course, the actual cost of the trip would be even more expensive than these prices, since Bank Cler's survey fails to take into account the cost of food, entertainment and the cost of transportation to and from the resort.
Since the arrival of COVID-19 in Europe in early 2020, demand for skiing in Switzerland has dropped sharply. This is due in large part to the travel restrictions countries have placed on each other during the pandemic, but also because of a large number of job losses leaving people without the financial stability to afford an expensive ski trip.
This lack of demand has caused the price of skiing in many Swiss ski resorts to fall slightly, though not at the same rate everywhere. For example, in Saas-Fee, prices have fallen around by 9,4 percent, whereas in Zermatt, the price has increased by 2,6 percent.
Interestingly, the survey concluded that the Andermatt-Sedrun ski area has seen the largest variations in price; ski prices for students in the region have increased by 48,2 percent, while families of four now pay 23,5 percent less to ski.