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SKIIING

Why your ski trip in Italy will be more expensive this winter

Due to rising energy costs, many mountain resorts in Italy are increasing their prices this winter - with some saying they won't be able to open at all. Here's what you should know if you're planning a winter break.

Skiing in most resorts in the Italian Alps will be more expensive this winter.
Skiing in most resorts in the Italian Alps will be more expensive this winter. Photo by Vincenzo PINTO / AFP.

Italy’s ski season, which usually lasts between November and March in high-altitude areas, will be more expensive this year as operators are hit by high energy prices.

The price of ski passes has risen to offset the cost of electricity used to operate ski lifts. Prices for daily, seasonal or multi-day passes in Italy have risen by between 6 and 13 percent, according to SkyTG24, with average increases of 10 percent across the country.

The ski slopes of Bormio in Alta Valtellina have seen the highest increases, with the cost of day passes rising from €46 to €52, according to a survey by the consumer rights association Assoutenti.

In Valle d’Aosta, day passes with rise from €56 to €61 in Courmayeur (8.9 percent), from €53 to €57 in Cervinia (7.5 percent), and from €47 to €51 La Thuile (8.5 percent).

The Dolomiti Superski day pass, which gives users access to 12 different resorts across a 3,000 sq km area in the Dolomites mountain range (making it the largest ski area in the world), will cost €74 in high season, up from €67 last year.

The prices increases only partially cover the increased energy costs, Dolomiti Superski’s press officer Diego Clara told the Repubblica news daily, with the company noting on its website that it reserves the right to raise prices further if necessary.

Energy crisis: Italy risks ‘thousands’ of business closures, say industry groups

Only the six ski areas of Friuli Venezia Giulia have said they won’t raise prices, with a day pass continuing to cost €39.50 and a week pass €250 for the entire ski season.

The ski resort of Panarotta 2002 in Trentino Alto Adige, for its part, has said it will remain closed this winter.

“Under these conditions we do not feel up to starting the winter season”, Matteo Anderle, president of Panarotta 2002, told Il Dolomiti newspaper in October. “There are too many unknowns that risk causing the collapse of the company.”

The news came as a blow to ski equipment rental businesses in the area, who say they learned of the decision just a couple of months before the start of the ski season and are now scrambling to find alternative sources of income.

“Last season I bought 50 sleds because the slope had been opened, now all that investment will be thrown away because if the ski slopes close the rental is worth zero,” Marco Bogazzi, who owns the ‘Snowfamily’ ski rental shop on Panarotta, told local press.

Other resorts are reportedly considering various measures to bring costs down, including opening only on certain days of the week or for limited hours during the day, or opening only the most popular slopes.

Valeria Ghezzi, president of the cable car operators association Anef, told Repubblica that “structural solutions and not those based on contigency” are needed to prevent the industry from facing a crisis.

“We lead a sector that creates an economy. If the ski lifts close, that closes all the related industries.”

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TRAVEL NEWS

Why are flight prices higher in Italy than the rest of Europe this summer?

A recent analysis found that fares for flights between European countries have decreased on average this summer - but mysteriously, Italy is bucking the trend.

Why are flight prices higher in Italy than the rest of Europe this summer?

Italy may be at the start of a summer tourism boom, but that’s no thanks to the cost of its airline tickets, which are higher than ever this year.

According to a recent analysis in Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, intra-Europe fares from June to September 2024 are down three percent on average compared to the same period last year – but Italy’s flight costs have risen.

The average price of a summer flight between Italy and the rest of Europe has increased by seven percent since 2023, data shows, while domestic flights cost as much as 21 percent more.

Corriere doesn’t offer much of an explanation for the hikes, though says industry sources say it could be down to demand being higher than anticipated.

READ ALSO: How Europe’s new EES border checks will impact flight passengers

It’s true that supply chain issues have reduced the available fleet of global aircraft at a time when the appetite for international travel is as high as ever – but this is an industry-wide problem that shouldn’t disproportionately affect Italy.

Carmelo Calì, the vice president of consumer rights watchdog Confconsumatori, suggested in a recent interview that the main culprit is a lack of healthy competition in the Italian market.

“Despite what is said to the contrary, in our country companies often find themselves operating at airports practically alone,” Calì told consumer publication Il Salvagente (The Lifejacket).

“Even when there is competition, prices remain high, because the race is upwards and not downwards.”

The high price of Italy’s domestic flights have been a point of contention for years, with consumer unions long complaining that fares for tickets between mainland Italy and the major islands are exorbitant.

Italy’s Price Surveillance Guarantor Benedetto Mineo, who officially goes by Mister Prezzi (‘Mr. Prices’), last summer called on the seven main airlines operating in Italy to account for a 40 percent annual increase in the cost of some key domestic routes.

READ ALSO: Why two Swiss to Italy flight routes are ‘the most turbulent’ in Europe

This was followed by the government announcing a price cap on flights connecting Sardinia and Sicily to the Italian mainland – that it promptly shelved just one month later, after budget carrier Ryanair led a furious pushback by low cost airlines.

“Here companies believe they have freedom that they don’t have elsewhere, convinced they can get away with it, while in the rest of Europe they fear being punished,” said Calì.

That may explain why the EU’s competition watchdog has been so slow to approve a proposed partial takeover of Italy’s national flag carrier ITA by Germany airline Lufthansa.

The Commission has repeatedly insisted that Lufthansa must give away a certain number of its slots at Milan’s Linate airport in compliance with EU competition rules in order for the deal to go ahead.

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