On Tuesday, 18 October, 2016, the manager and co-owner of Sölden Mountain Railways, Jack Falkner, and the CEO of Jungfrau Railways, Urs Kessler, travelled to Zurich for a press conference to give a presentation on the new collaboration between the two companies. The collaboration with Sölden is, for Jungfrau Railways, a reaction to the persistent negative trend of winter sports in the Jungfrau region. Sölden believes cooperation will create increased opportunities to pinpoint the area as a summer destination, in particular for guests from Asia.

Benefiting from the strength of partners
Urs Kessler and Jack Falkner explained to the media the fundamentals of the collaboration, which is intended to help two potential competitors achieve mutual success. The aim is to be the best two European summits in summer and winter. Synergies will be used and benefit gained from mutual knowledge in order to achieve this.

Whereas Jungfrau Railways have been confronted in recent years with declining numbers of winter sports visitors, Sölden is considered one of the leading winter sports destinations. To benefit from Sölden's strength in the area of winter sports, an employee exchange will be sought in order to exchange expertise. There will also be an advertising presence in Sölden and simultaneous appearances in the winter sports market.

Thanks to the collaboration, Sölden can, in turn, use the treasure trove of experience from Jungfrau Railways as a world famous destination, which was able to vastly increase its visitor numbers in recent years. On the other hand, the number of overnight visitors in Sölden during summer has increased only modestly. In order to improve summer business for the Austrian destination, the Jungfrau Railways network of representatives is visiting Sölden in July 2017 and helping with market expansion. In addition, Sölden will be presented on the market at the same time as Jungfrau Railways.

Combined advertising appearances at the World Cup Races in Sölden and at the International Lauberhorn race in Wengen, the Hannibal Winter Events and SnowpenAir, as well as on Top of Europe and in the ski regions, call attention to both destinations in summer and winter.

Added value for winter sports guests
Winter sports guests also benefit from the new collaboration. For the winter sports season 2017/2018, Jungfrau Railways and Sölden held a raffle for 100 long weekends (50 in the Jungfrau Ski Region and 50 in Sölden). Season ticket holders from Sölden and the Jungfrau Ski Region also receive a 20 per cent discount in the respective other ski destination.