Thanks for getting back to me.
I think you will be interested in La Compagnie des Alpes. This company
has taken over a number of smaller operators, mostly in France, but
also in Italy at Mont Blanc, and in Switzerland, at Verbier and Saas
Fee.
In their annual report, they make this comparison with the US market:
"Unlike their European counterparts, these American companies operate
many businesses outside of ski lifts: ski-schools, lodging,
restaurants, and especially real estate promotion. This last activity
often brings in 40 to 50% of sales. This means that peer comparisons
with Compagnie des Alpes, which earns more than 90% of sales from
ski-lifts, are difficult to make and not very meaningful."
Most of their business is in France, where they have to obtain
concessions from local government to operate their facilities, unlike
Italy and Switzerland, where direct ownership of ski-lifts etc. is
possible, though a license is still required.
"In Italy and Switzerland, ski-lift operating companies own their
facilities. Operating licenses are granted on a facility by facility
basis, for the duration of their officially determined lifespan."
This is different from France where "the affiliates of Compagnie des
Alpes operate ski areas through concession contracts. The granting
authorities are municipalities, groupings of municipalities, or
départements. As such, the companies are [in] charge of facilities
(ski lifts, snowcats, and other facilities) and are responsible for
all financing and operations."
They suggest that there are many small companies in the market:
"The consolidation of the European market, initiated by Compagnie des
Alpes, has still not progressed very far. Under the prevailing model
in Switzerland, Austria and Italy, each resort is under the management
of one or sometimes several companies."
You will find the report from which these excerpts are taken at:
http://www.compagniedesalpes.com/site_gb/docs/corporate.pdf
The English version of the company's home page is at:
http://www.compagniedesalpes.com/index_eng.asp
The links on the left of their home page will take you to further
information including:
Press Releases
http://www.compagniedesalpes.com/site_gb/pages/communiques/accueil_comq.asp
Annual reports
http://www.compagniedesalpes.com/site_gb/pages/com_financiere/reference.htm
==============
La Compagnie des Alpes' two nearest competitors are Sofival and SEM Trois Vallées.
Sofival is a private company controlled by the Blas family. They
operate Val d?Isère, Avoriaz and Valmorel ski areas (2001 sales of 68
million euros)
"Le Groupe Sofival, contrôlé par Bernard Blas et sa famille"
http://www.lemarket.com/news/det.php?DID=2605
Please note that the website above has telephone numbers for Sofival/Bernard Blas.
Trying to locate this company has been difficult and led to various
different addresses, firms of accountants etc., but there is one clear
listing showing Sofival as a ski-lift company in Paris, directed by B
Blas.
http://www.lentreprise.com/classements/atlas/2003/pdf/Ile-de-France.pdf
Domain name registration details for
http://www.sofival.com/
a website which is not yet operational, also show a Paris location:
SOFIVAL
9 AVENUE HOCHE
75008 PARIS
FRANCE
This address appears twice in google searches:
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=sofival+avenue+hoche&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
The details for Sofival Paris are different in the online phone book at:
http://www.pagesjaunes.fr/
There I found:
Sofival
178 bd Malesherbes
75017 PARIS
tel: 01 42 61 82 58
Sofival are acquiring new facilities:
" Sofival, la holding propriétaire de la STVI, est le deuxième groupe
français dans le domaine de la gestion des domaines skiables. Après
Val d?Isère, Avoriaz et Valmorel, la société gère depuis cet hiver le
domaine de La Rosière, à Montvalezan dans la Haute-Tarentaise au pied
du col du Petit Saint-Bernard, station directement reliée à celle de
La Thuile en Italie, avec laquelle elle forme l?espace San Bernardo."
http://www.valdisere.com/fr/montagne/forfait/info2.php
STVI, mentioned above, is the Val d?Isère ski-lift company.
://www.google.co.uk/search?q=stvi+ski&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
=
SEM Trois Vallées, another French operator, is a public-private joint venture.
( SEM is an abbreviation for "société d'économie mixte".
http://www.fnsem.asso.fr/ecomix/semmodeemploi.htm )
They operate the "Courchevel and Mottaret ski areas (2001 sales of 54
million euros)."
Their website is at:
http://www.s3v.com/
Contact information:
Société des Trois Vallées
BP 40
73122 Courchevel cedex
Tél : 04.79.08.20.00
Fax : 04.79.08.00.57
contact@s3v.com
==============
You asked whether I thought ski resorts in Europe are generally run by
consortia. My impression is that things vary considerably from place
to place. Public-private partnership seems quite common, and there are
many small companies in the market, though mergers and takeovers may
be reducing this number. To give you some idea of this, let me show
you that in the Valais area of Switzerland alone there are dozens of
ski lift operators:
http://www.cci-valais.ch/f/pdf/Rapport2002.pdf
Sometimes the word consortium is used to describe a co-operative
effort by a group of small villages and larger resorts to create a
large skiing area linked by lifts, for example the cross-border
Swiss-French "Portes du Soleil" said to be "a consortium of a dozen
ski villages ranging from large, internationally recognised resorts to
the tiniest of unspoilt hamlets."
http://www.momentum.uk.com/france_morzine_home.html
Or a consortium can be a group of ski resorts sharing publicity
efforts like the "BEST OF THE ALPS -
Twelve Alpine resorts are members of the Best of the Alps consortium.
The Best of the Alps comprise Kitzbuehel, Lech-Zuers am Arlberg, St.
Anton am Arlberg, Seefeld, (Austria), Chamonix- Mont-Blanc,
Megeve(France),Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany), Cortina d'Ampezzo
(Italy), Davos, Grindelwald, St. Moritz, Zermatt (Switzerland). For
further information, please visit http://www.bestofthealps.com/ "
Public-private cooperation is illustrated by these figures for Savoie
in France, where plans for investment involve the French government,
regional councils, local councils and an assortment of cable-car and
ski-lift operators:
"SEVABEL, SETAM, Société de Téléphériques de la Grande Motte, Société
des Téléphériques de Val d'Isère - Société des Trois Vallées - Société
des Téléphériques de l'Aiguille Grive, SOGESPRAL, Société Blanc et
Girod, Régle Municipale des Remontées Mécaniques de la Rosière,
Montvalezan, Sopcièté des Montagnes de l'Arc, Société des Remontées
Mécaniques de Valmorel, Sociétés des Téléskis de Moriond, Méribel
Alpine, Société d'Aménagement de la Plagne."
http://www.cg73.fr/fr/dossiers/pqr_financement.shtm
==============
I hope this information will prove helpful.
One or two other websites I came across which might be useful are:
Big ski areas linked by lifts
http://www.goski.com/experts/biggest/linked.htm
Big ski areas with shared passes
http://www.goski.com/experts/biggest/notlinked.htm
French reports on mountain/winter sports tourism
http://www.sntf.org/visiteurs/index.html
International ski lift/cable car association
http://www.oitaf.org/
Please do ask if you would like me to clarify anything, and I'll do my
best to help.
Best Wishes - Leli
search strategy
---------------
At first I tried many approaches in English, French and Italian!
The most productive search was ' skistar model euros '
://www.google.co.uk/search?q=skistar+model+euros&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
This led me to the Compagnie des Alpes website. |
