Ben Preiss
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 Ernen Switzerland Global warming can get some people great real estate bargains. Ernen, Switzerland could not afford to renew its ski lift licenses after several seasons of meager snowfall and were desperate to find someone to save them, since the whole town (pop. 560) depends on tourism. So desperate, they were willing to give the entire ski operation away for one Swiss franc (90 cents) to the person with the best rescue plan. One fine day Bruno Prior, a British entrepreneur, was sipping coffee and looking through the newspaper in London and saw Ernen’s ad.  Last ski season, the ski-lift company lost more than $180,000. In March, the need for $1.4 million more to renew its operating license — required every couple of decades — was the last straw. With rising losses and temperatures, and the snowfall becoming less dependable, the village, the majority owner of the company, decided to shut down the lifts.
“We braced ourselves to lose two-thirds of our winter guests,” Mr. Seiler said.
Since the boom days of the early 1990s, the number of annual overnight stays in Ernen has decreased by almost half, to 90,000 last winter.
After spending more than $450,000 on the current ski season and a feasibility study, Mr. Prior plans to invest as much as $45 million to build two new lifts and hotels, initially with 300 beds.
Given this year’s early and abundant snowfalls, there is widespread hope that Mr. Prior’s first skiing season will encourage him to invest more.
(nytimes)References: ernen.ch, nytimes 1 Comment: on Snow Deprived Ski Resort Sells for 90¢ |
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