Grandvalira ends 2015–2016 season with a four-percent increase in ski pass sales
Open a total of 135 of 135 days. Grandvalira kept its skiable area open every day scheduled for the 2015–16 season. Despite unfavorable weather early in the season, the resort at the heart of the Pyrenees closed the season with a four-percent increase in ski pass sales compared to the previous season. This marked four consecutive seasons of growth in the number of visitors for the Andorran resort. Moderate increases were also seen primarily in the Spanish, French, British and Northern European markets. Neighboring markets like the French and Spanish markets continued to grow in influx this season. Thanks to good turnout from international markets, aggregate volume also rose this season, with special emphasis on skiers from the UK and Northern European countries.
Due to irregular precipitation during the winter season, ground team were responsible for over 1,000 hours of snow production and snow-grooming machines worked for 25,700 hours, two tangible indicators that illustrate the intense and ongoing efforts of Grandvalira's technical personnel to ensure the best slope conditions. Despite this, the distribution of visitors throughout the season was quite regular. The average number of skiers remained high for the whole season, with peaks in the December bank holiday weekend, Christmas and Easter vacation periods. February and March also had figures higher than previous years.
Grandvalira invested a total of 16 million euros, primarily in optimizing and improving the customer experience to strengthen its leading position in southern Europe. Investments with the most notable return were in the family segment, with a five-percent increase in this customer segment compared to the 2014–2015 season.
Grandvalira’s sales and marketing director, Alfonso Torreño, valued the results positively, “Our market strategy and positioning are only one part of our good results. I would like to highlight all of the efforts of ground and sales team throughout the season, a season with less snowfall than usual. Our investments were very well-received by skiers. We give special importance to the 14,000 customer satisfaction surveys we collected over the season. These are our most reliable indicators that the perception of the Grandvalira experience is near “excellent” (with an overall satisfaction rate of 8.3). We’ve already begun work on next season, with an eye towards fine-tuning details to improve customer service, the most important aspect of our business philosophy.”
Other data that illustrates the success of the Grandvalira brand include over 2.5 million visitors to our website (+23%) and the number of Domain of Snow app downloads, up 145% from the previous year.
Successful sporting events
Grandvalira concluded an epic season that featured some major sporting events, providing another testament to our ability to host top-level international competitions that project the resort’s image and increase our visibility in international markets. In the months of January and April, the Domain of Snow hosted some of the best athletes in the world of snow sports. Our exceptional calendar of sporting events for the year started off with the Freeride Junior World Championships and the sixth Skiers Cup, the first time the event has been held in a ski resort in southern Europe. The high point of the season was in February, when Grandvalira hosted the Women’s Alpine Skiing World Cup trials for the second time, filling the l'Àliga slope in El Tarter with names like Lindsey Vonn and Lara Gut, some of the best skiers in the world. The hair-raising showdown was seen by over 10,000 attendees, while some 300 Andorran volunteers made sure the event went off seamlessly. This event brought the whole country together and helped to reinforce Grandvalira’s leading position in the world of alpine skiing. The home straight of the most important sporting season in southern Europe was dedicated to two of the most spectacular disciplines in skiing and snowboarding: speed skiing, with the Speed Skiing World Cup; and freestyle, with the twelfth Total Fight Masters of Freestyle, featuring both snowboarding and freeski.
A year of recognition
The 2015–2016 season was also a season filled with accolades. Grandvalira took sixteenth place in the world ranking for number of skier visits, a ranking created by the Swiss consultancy Laurent Vanat. The Andorran resort went up three positions in the prestigious report, overtaking renowned resorts such as Soelden, Tignes and Zermatt.
The public also recognized Grandvalira through different awards received this season, such as the World Ski Awards, considered the Oscars of the snow tourism sector, and TripAdvisor’s certificate of excellence. Grandvalira also smashed a few social media records. This was reported by the big data communication consulting firm Sybils, which positioned the Andorran resort in the top spot for the most comments of any resort in the Pyrenees.