Jungfrau Railway achieves guest record

More guests visited the Jungfraujoch-Top of Europe in 2011 than ever before. 765,000 people travelled by Jungfrau Railway to Europe’s highest-altitude railway station, achieving an increase of 13.8 per cent on the previous year.

Business segment Jungfraujoch-Top of Europe
In 2011, the Jungfrau Railway Group carried 765,000 visitors to the Jungfraujoch, setting a new record. The increase is down to business with Asian guests. The Jungfrau Railway Group’s strategy of global marketing has borne fruit. This has also been helped by the value of the Euro, which dropped against major Asian currencies after the financial and economic crises. Travel to Europe became generally less expensive for Asian guests and so the strong franc was of no importance. The tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan had little effect on the number of travellers to the Jungfraujoch.

Business segment winter sport
While excursion traffic in 2011 gained strength, the winter sport business was more restrained. Between 1 January and 31 December 2011, the Jungfrau Ski Region, in which the Jungfrau Railway Group holds a 60 per cent revenue share, recorded 1,073,000 skier visits. The reduction in comparison to the preceding year was 10.6 per cent. Higher temperatures and lack of snow meant that it was not possible to start the 2011/2012 winter season until 17 December 2011, three weeks later than the previous year. Nevertheless, winter-sport guests have been able to enjoy excellent piste conditions over the Christmas holiday period.

Business segment experience mountains
The Jungfrau Railway Group also achieved excellent frequencies in the experience mountains business segment, which includes excursion traffic to the Harder Kulm, First and Winteregg-Mürren. Compared to the previous year, the Harder Railway recorded an increase of 15.3 per cent, the First Aerial Cableway a reduction of 5.8 per cent. The Mürren Rail & Cableway carried 0.2 per cent fewer guests than the previous year.

Preview
In view of the strong Swiss franc, the Jungfrau Railway Group anticipates that the 2011/2012 winter season will present a challenge. It expects that fewer guests from Euro zone countries will travel to the Jungfrau Ski Region for winter sport. However, optimism is justified as the Jungfrau Railway celebrates its centenary in 2012 and over 80 special offers and events are planned for this anniversary. The Jungfrau Railway Group is convinced that the centenary will create worldwide interest and so additional guests will be able to be welcomed.

 
                                  Passenger frequency       Passenger frequency    Variation
                                                           2011                                2010 in per cent

• Jungfrau Railway                         765,000                           672,000     +13.8%
(Jungfraujoch arr.)

• Grindelwald-First                         440,000                           467,000        -5.8%
(from valley)

• Mürren Rail & Cableway              545,000                            546,000        -0.2%
(total frequency)

• Harder Railway                            171,400                            148,700    +15.3%
(total frequency)

 
                                                   Skier visits                       Skier visits   Variation
                                1.1.2011 – 31.12.2011       1.1.2010 – 2.1.2010 in per cent

• Jungfrau Ski Region                  1,073,000                        1,200,000      -10.6%

 
                                                   Skier visits                       Skier visits   Variation
                             Season start – 2.1.2012  Season start – 2.1.2011 in per cent

• Jungfrau Ski Region                     132,000                           206,000      -35.9%