Winter Tourism in Katschberg
Andrea Holl ANB-266.03 Tourism Report 15. 12. 2012
Table of Contents: 1. Katschberg Ski Region 1.1. Description: location, scenery, tourism history
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1.2. Major attractions, most visited areas
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2. Tourists 2.1. Description of tourists: types of tourists, target market, segmentation
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2.2. Popular activities
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2.3. Range of accommodations
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2.4. Eating out
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3. The impact of tourism on the area 3.1. Economic impact
8-9
3.2. Working population and tourism-related jobs
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3.3. Seasonality
9-10
3.4. Negative effects of tourism
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4. Areas of excellence and areas of improvement 4.1. Areas of excellence
10-11
4.2. Areas of improvement: needs
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5. References
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1. Katschberg Region 1.1. Description Location: In Austria, in the state of Carinthia is situated one of the country’s ski regions, Rennweg am Katschberg, which is part of the Central Eastern Alps. Because of the high-quality motorway the region is easily accessible by car and by bus. It is 126 kilometres (A10 motorway), so one and a half hours away from Salzburg, and it is 308 kilometres (S6 motorway), so three and a half hours away from Vienna. From Budapest, it takes five and a half hours to get there (538 kilometres on M1 motorway). In addition, there are also airports in Salzburg, Klagenfurt and Graz, which are the nearest towns to Katschberg.
Picture 1: Map of Austria, Katschberg indicated with a red dot
Tourism History: In 1929 J. Kastner built the first “Gaststätte” (place where they give food and shelter for visitors) at Katschberghöhe (1641 m). In 1956, Matthias and Gertrude Bogensperger took over the place and rebuilt it to a four-star hotel. A year later, they built the first ski lift. From 1957 for forty years it was the biggest private ski resort with ten ski lifts. In the year of 2001 began the modernisation of the ski resort and the ski lifts. Nowadays, there are sixteen ski lifts
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and sixty kilometres of pistes functioning and there are numerous hotels and restaurants available for the visitors.
Picture 2: Map of Katschberg ski region with the slopes and ski lifts
Since its highest point, Aineck, is 2220 metres above mean sea level it offers a breathtakingly beautiful view of the surrounding mountains, valleys and nearby villages. 1.2. Major attractions, most visited areas As Zimmermann highlighted, “Austria is famous for its natural and cultural potential� (p. 1), which is also true for Katschberg. Visitors coming to this ski resort are mainly tourists who are interested in nature and winter sports. Therefore, during the winter season sports tourism is the most dominant and other types, such as cultural tourism are less important. However, there are two main villages located near Katschberg, St. Michael and St. Margarethen im Lungau. These villages play an important part in the region not only because these provide food and shelter for the visitors but also because of their atmosphere and scenery. There are plenty of restaurants in these villages where visitors can taste typical Austrian dishes and beer and can experience how local people live and enjoy life. Tourists can familiarise themselves 4
with Austrian folk music as well, since these are played in restaurants both in the villages and in the ski resort.
2. Tourists 2.1. Description of the tourists Types of tourists: Tourism plays a very important part in this region and in Austria in general. “Tourism industry is highly developed in and extremely important for Austria� (Dolnicar & Leisch, p. 2). Therefore both the domestic and the inbound tourists are essential, so those who visit this region are either the residents of Austria or are coming from neighbouring countries such as Hungary and Germany. In addition, the website http://www.katschberg.at exists in various languages, such as German, Hungarian, Slovenian, Italian and English, which proves that the region is not just popular among people from the neighbouring countries but also among people from different parts of the European Union. Target market: The target market is homogeneous, since, as it was mentioned before, tourists visit the region because it offers various opportunities in winter sports. However, within this group, we can differentiate between age groups, such as young people with friends, young couples, families with children, middle aged
Picture 3: Skiers in Katschberg
couples and pensioners. It should also be pointed out that Katschberg is reasonably priced. In addition, in case of a ski resort, the level of difficulty of the slopes plays one of the most
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essential parts. That is the other main reason why Katschberg is popular among different age groups and types of people, since it offers pistes for all levels of difficulties; medium/blue (50 km), difficult/red (10 km) and expert/black (10 km), all together 70 kilometres of pure snow. Segmentation of tourists: There are also other ways of grouping tourists. For example, Dolnicar and Leisch conducted a research, with which they wanted to measure tourists’ behaviour, way of thinking and vacation styles, who are visiting Austria. The results show that the largest behavioural tourist segment (62%)
Picture 4: Family with Katschberg’s logo
consists of visitors who are skiers and are mostly interested in winter sports activity and are not keen on visiting cultural sites. “This group consequently represents the majority of winter travellers in Austria very well” (Dolnicar & Leisch, p. 7). According to psychographic segmentation, for most of the respondents (38%) sports, the amount of snow and the ski resort play the most important part during the winter holiday (p. 8). Last but not least, according to vacation styles, most of the respondents (31%) care about fun and snow, so this group can be considered the mass market (p. 9). Although we cannot draw far-reaching conclusions from these data, still, these numbers support the statement that most of the tourists visit Austria because of its potentials in winter sports. 2.2. Popular activities among tourists Dolnicar and Leisch also asked the respondents “to check off activities that they did often, sometimes or never during their winter holiday in Austria” (p. 4). Among the various activities included in the list, alpine skiing (76%) appeared to be the most popular (the percentage in brackets means the proportion of the respondents who answered 'often' or
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'sometimes'). Among these activities, those that had a higher rank in the list are, for example, relaxing, going for walks, shopping, going out in the evening and going to a sauna (p. 4). These kinds of popular activities are also true for the Katschberg ski region. It is also interesting that “the tourism website administered by the Austrian National Tourism Office, www.austria.info, promotes Austria as a destination for nature and culture based leisure activities. [...] seasons are associated with specific sporting Picture 4: Mountains of Katschberg-Aineck
and nature based activities such as skiing and other snow sports in winter, and cycling, hiking and water sports in summer. Culture is encapsulated in images of historical buildings, and an arts culture based around opera and classical music performances. There is also an emphasis on regional and national cuisine as an attractor� (Wenger, p. 170). However, in the ski region of Katschberg the local economy is focusing on sports and nature tourism and cultural activities, such as art and exhibitions are less important and are underdeveloped. 2.3. Range of accommodations The hospitality industry is well developed. Tourists can find apartment houses, small bed and breakfast places, but also bigger hotels. In Katschberg there are also expensive hotels as well as smaller and cheaper establishments. However, the most popular kind of accommodation is the smaller, family-run
Picture 5: Hotel Lärchenhof
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hotel with ca. 30 rooms all together and where usually either the breakfast or both breakfast and dinner are included in the price and breakfast is usually buffet type. It is becoming more and more popular among these accommodations to have a small sauna where tired tourist can relax after a long day of skiing. 2.4. Eating out There are establishments which provide food and shelter for visitors and there are those that provide food only. Tourists can find these places in those small villages that were mentioned above and they can also have their meals directly next to the ski pistes and ski lifts, which are called “Hütte”. These restaurants serve traditional Austrian and local dishes, such as the “Germknödel” (dumpling with poppy seeds and sugar, filled with plum jam and melted butter on top, often eaten
Picture 6: Hütte next to the
with vanilla cream sauce) or the apple strudel, just to mention
ski lifts
a few. For Hungarian visitors it can also be interesting to taste the Austrian version of goulash. Therefore, eating out in Austria can be a pleasure in itself in an affordable price.
3. The impact of tourism in the area 3.1. Economic impact Tourism in Austria, in general, plays an essential part in the economy. It not only creates income and increases the GDP, but also creates employment and generates income, both on the national and on the local levels. For example, “in 2005, 21.6 billion Euros in direct and indirect value added [8.8% of the gross domestic product (GDP)] resulted from tourism activity” (Töglhofer, Eigner & Prettenhaler, p.1). In addition, “a large share of tourism activity takes place in the 345 municipalities with major ski areas” (p.1), so 44 million of the 60 million overnight stays take place in the winter season (p. 1).
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There are skiers who stay in Austria for just a couple of days – for example, Hungarian tourists on the national holidays – usually at the weekend, but there are also visitors who spend weeks in a ski region such as Katschberg. In general, longer stays which last for several weeks take place during the Christmas holiday, after Christmas until New Year’s Eve. University students who travel with a group also stay longer, usually for a week. 3.2. Working population and tourism-related jobs According to Zimmermann, “revenues of more than #13 000 million (in 1992) put Austria at number five in the world and make the tourism sector a vital part in the Austrian economy” (p. 1). Therefore, there are various tourism-related jobs in Austria and also in the region of Katschberg. Businesses such as hotels and restaurants also benefit from tourism and provide most of the jobs in the area. Lots of waiters/waitresses, receptionists, maids, shop assistants and chefs are needed during the peak season. In addition, there are also maintainers in need, who take care of the functioning of the lifts. Other supplementary services and people that are important in a ski region are the bus and taxi drivers, the service repairing the wrong ski and snowboard equipments, shops that sell clothing and equipment, places where visitors can rent ski and snowboard equipments, ski and snowboard schools with professional trainers, playgrounds where children are taken care of, the ambulance and some other activities related to sports and fun such as sleigh riding or horse and carriage riding. 3.3. Seasonality In Austria there are two clearly divided tourist season, the summer and the winter season. The winter season starts in November and lasts until the middle of April. This also depends on the weather and the snow conditions, but Katschberg is said to be snow reliable. It is interesting that the winter season became more and more important, but initially the summer season was considered more essential (Dolnicar & Leisch, p. 2).
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“The importance of winter tourism is not only increasing in terms of overnight stays, it is also known from the Austrian National Guest Survey that tourists visiting Austria during the winter season tend to spend 40 percent more money per day at their destinations than the visitors during Picture 7: Panorama from Aineck (2220 m)
the main summer season” (p. 2). In addition, winter tourism is not only essential for the tourism industry but for the whole economy, as well (p. 2). 3.4. Negative effects of tourism The question arises, whether tourism in Austria can have a negative effect at all. However, there are impacts of tourism that are considered disadvantages and negative effects. These are, for example, the global warming together with the huge demand for snow. On the other hand, this does not seem to be a big threat, since ski resorts are situated in high mountains where snow conditions tend to be reliable and are less affected than lower places. The destruction of forests in order to build huge ski resorts can also have a negative effect on nature.
4. Areas of excellence and areas of improvement 4.1. Areas of excellence “The Austrian National Tourism Office has conducted some research into images of Austria as a tourism destination. Positive images tend to relate to nature and scenery, cuisine, friendliness of residents, and Austria being a safe destination” (Wenger, p. 170). In particular, “sporting and nature based experiences have been viewed as major attractors in these studies of destination image” (p. 170). In addition, the good infrastructure, the quality of roads and 10
the fact that Austrian people pay attention to selective waste-collection is also positive. As I mentioned, ski resorts such as Katschberg are fairly easily accessible by car or bus, there are ski and accommodation shuttles and big parking areas. The two main websites of Katschberg, http://www.katschi.at/ and http://www.katschberg.at are also worth mentioning. These are both well-organised, provide all the necessary information and are also attractive. The region also has a logo, a kind of brand image that is a blue heart and can be seen on the website and everywhere in the ski resort, so it is memorable and easy to recognise. 4.2. Areas of improvement Needs There are also some disadvantages and areas that could be improved or changed. According to the research mentioned above, “negative images tend to relate to high prices, unpredictable weather, and poor nightlife” (p. 170). Therefore, there could be more places where music is played and visitors can go out during the night. In addition, there could be more organised package tours at a reduced price which could include accommodation, food, ski tickets, spa tickets and an organised tour, such as hiking or visiting the neighbouring villages and tasting local beer. This might attract even more tourists.
In conclusion, Katschberg comprises the different activities of winter tourism, such as skiing, snowboarding, ice skating, après skiing and hiking. The region offers various types of services, ranging from accommodation and restaurants to shops and children’s activities. The infrastructure is well-developed, the slopes are in good condition and the panorama is beautiful – and that I know from experience. Katschberg is definitely a great place to visit. 11
5. References Dolnicar, S. & Leisch, F. (2003) Winter tourist segments in Austria – Identifying stable vacation styles using bagged clustering techniques. Research Online. University of Wollongong Töglhofer, Ch. Eigner, F. and Prettenthaler, F. Impacts of snow conditions on tourism demand in Austrian ski areas.
Wenger, A. (2008) Analysis of travel bloggers' characteristics and their communication about Austria as a tourism destination. Journal of Vacation Marketing. Sage Publications
Zimmermann, F. M. (1995) Tourism in Austria: instability of the demand and innovations on the supply side. (Tourismus in Österreich: Instabilität der Nachfrage und Innovationszwang des Angebotes) Geographische Rundschau. vol. 47 no. 1. pp. 30-37 (abstract) Other Sources: Pictures from: http://www.katschi.at/ http://www.katschberg.at http://www.flickr.com/photos/katschberg/collections/
http://www.onthesnow.com/austria/ski-resorts.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katschberg_Pass
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katschberg (in German)
http://hu.skiinfo.com/si%CC%81-koezpontok-info%CC%81/katschberg-aineckEATXKATSCHBE-103-hu.jhtml
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