With mountain adventure pass

Winter fun is “all inclusive” in Lower Austria this year

Snow is guaranteed on the Hochkar in the Ybbstal Alps - just one of ten ski areas that can be accessed at will with the season ticket.

(Bild: NÖ Werbung/Andreas Jakwerth)

One card, ten ski areas, 51 lifts, 125 kilometers of slopes: The Mountain Adventure Pass is designed to make skiing in Lower Austria affordable for families. Children up to the age of 16 can ski the blue and yellow slopes for free this year. Only the parents pay.

Exciting, sensational, unbeatable - when Johanna Mikl-Leitner, the head of Lower Austria, talks about "her" Lower Austria, it's full of superlatives. After all, she is also responsible for the economy and tourism. Two agendas that she was able to profitably combine yesterday in St. Pölten. Together with chief advertiser Michael Duscher and the managing director of the lift and piste operator Ecoplus Alpin, Markus Redl, she set out the goals for this year's winter season.

Early bookers should be able to save extra
The core of the campaign is easy to explain: from this year, a nationwide season ticket will replace the "small regional" offers. In other words, following the example of the Lower Austria Card, there will be one ticket that is valid for all ten ski areas operated by the province. This is intended to achieve two things: To enable operators to plan to a certain extent and to give customers a snow guarantee. Because if the weather doesn't permit it in Mönichkirchen, for example, skiers can switch to the traditionally snow-spoiled Hochkar at no extra charge.

We are starting the winter with courage and optimism, but in Lower Austria we are focusing primarily on activities that are independent of the weather. Nevertheless, we are hoping for snow, because skiing is the most fun . . .

Johanna Mikl-Leitner ist als Landeshauptfrau auch fürs Tourismus-Ressort zuständig

Bild: APA/Helmut Fohringer, Krone KREATIV

Cheap is, of course, relative, as the season ticket currently costs 400 euros per adult in the early bird promotion period. But: when you buy a ticket, one child up to the age of eleven can go on the slopes for free, and under-16s are included with two season tickets.

Together into the winter season: Mikl-Leitner, Duscher and Redl with representatives of all ten ski resorts that are joining forces this year with the blue and yellow "Mountain Experience Pass".

(Bild: NLK Filzwieser)

Record-breaking August, September fell through
In addition, the aim is to make winter completely independent of the weather and promote the 365-day season with cultural and culinary offers. At the same time, the aim is to better promote the cities of the vast province - as a "base station" for a stay in Lower Austria. A strategy that is working: after all, by the end of August this year, tourism was up 1.3 percent on the previous year. August itself was at a record level with an increase of 7.3 percent in overnight stays. September fell through due to the flood disaster.