24.02.2014

2013 business year – traffic revenue increased

Last year the Jungfrau Railway Group achieved a traffic income of 121.5 million francs, an increase of 5.6% on 2012.

Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe
In 2013, a total of 823,000 people visited the Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe. Excursion traffic con-tinued to profit from the activities offered during the 2012 centenary year. Overall, visitor numbers were only 1.2% lower than in the centenary year, equating to the second best result in the railway’s over-100-year history. A higher average yield per visitor was also achieved. This was mainly due to fewer special offers and promotions in comparison to the centenary year as well as to price ad-justments. Traffic income resulted in a plus of 6.2% in the Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe business segment. The growth in visitor numbers has in particular been achieved through business with Asian guests. The Jungfrau Railways policy of intensively cultivating the Asian market and further strengthening the Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe brand has clearly paid off.

Winter sport
Thanks to continuous good snow conditions from the beginning of the year to the end of the season in spring 2013, the Jungfrau Ski Region, in which the Jungfrau Railway Group holds a 60% share of turnover, achieved higher revenue compared to the same period in the previous year. Powerful snowmaking equipment enabled an early start to the 2013/2014 winter season. The first lifts opened in the Kleine Scheidegg area on 23 November 2013, one week earlier than in 2012. In 2013, the Jungfrau Ski Region achieved a 4.3% growth in skier visits. It was possible to achieve a 4.2% increase in the winter-sport business segment. However the result is considerably below the good winter-sport years of 2007 to 2009.

Experience mountains
The Jungfrau Railway Group recorded consistently good visitor numbers in the experience moun-tains business segment, which comprises excursion traffic to Harder Kulm, First and Winteregg-Mürren. From 1 January to 31 December 2013, the Harder funicular carried 17.8% more passengers than in the previous year, thus once again achieving a significant passenger record. The First Aerial Cableway carried 0.5% more guests than in 2012. The Lauterbrunnen-Mürren rail and cableway achieved a 6.4% growth in passenger numbers. The experience mountains business segment achieved an overall increase in traffic income of 9.5%.

Prospects for 2014
2014 has started successfully. In January, the Jungfraujoch was able to repeat the visitor numbers of the previous year. Bookings to date for the current year and the continuing positive trend in the Asian market, which is of crucial importance to the Jungfrau Railway Group, fills us with optimism. The winter-sport business sector however has recorded a drop in frequency compared to the beginning of 2013. This is mainly due to the adverse wind and weather conditions.