In the year in which it celebrated its 10th anniversary, Grandvalira, the biggest resort in southern Europe, has just closed one of the most successful seasons in its history with the best results in 7 years. During the 2013-2014 season, a total of 1,615,321 forfaits were sold at the resort - this corresponds to 135,321 more than the previous year (a 9.14% increase). One of the most notable figures was the highest ever number of visitors, 26,5000, on a single day, which took place on 29th December. One of the indicators shows that visitors figures at Grandvalira were over 10,000 on 56% of the days it was open.
The snow season was marked by the best snow conditions at the start of season in the last 20 years. November 2013 saw the greatest snowfall and meant that Grandvalira was able to operate almost at full capacity right from the start of the season. According to the results from the technical team, of the 145 days it was open, a total of 6.84 meters of snowfall was recorded on over 57 days (39.31% of the total days open).
The Managing Director of Grandvalira-Nevasa, Nuria Tarré, views the season very positively: “we are extremely happy with this record season for a number of reasons: the exceptional snow conditions, our tenth anniversary celebrations, our increased effort at a strategic level and, first and foremost, for the great results we have achieved”.
Consolidation of international markets
The Spanish market continues to make up the largest percentage of visitors to Grandvalira with a total of 50.7%. During the snow season, this segment also showed a slight recovery in figures with a small increase of around 1% on the year before. As for local visitors, those coming from the region of Catalonia increased by 16%.
Grandvalira has also taken great steps in making the brand more international and has continued to focus its strategy on reinforcing sales and communications in specific markets. In particular, there were excellent numbers from the French market with an increase of 20%, the UK/Irish market with figures up 23% and the Russian market, which increased by 7% when compared with the 2012-2013 season.
Record levels of visitor satisfaction
One of the most important aspects for Grandvalira is the great levels of visitor satisfaction we have achieved. A total of 16,000 users of the resort were asked for their opinion over the season. According to those questioned, 89.2% of visitors are either likely or very likely to return to Grandvalira - figures that were beyond our expectations. On top of that, 98.8% of users would recommend Grandvalira and 89.8% of them found that their visit either met or exceeded their expectations.
The satisfaction levels this season were the highest ever recorded (questionnaires have been carried out the last 5 seasons) with an overall score of 8.41 for general satisfaction (+0.13 points with respect to the 2012-2013 season).
The snow conditions, growth from international markets and high figures for service uptake resulted in an excellent overall evaluation for the resort. In the case of both the Ski and Snowboarding School and in catering, the new services on offer (the Freeride Center, for example) and in infrastructure (new terraces) have been viewed very positively by visitors and have seen increased spending on services at the resort.
Positive balance for events
Over the season, Grandvalira has organized a total of 95 different competitions in different disciplines. It hosted five very important sporting and leisure events such as the Red Bull Home Run, the GrandRide (Freeride World Qualifier 3*), the Flying Kilometer World Cup, the Finals of the Alpine Skiing European Cup and the Total Fight Masters of Freestyle (snowboard and freeskiing) - all five events were international and proved highly successful.
The prospect of organizing ever better high-level competitions will be another driving force for Grandvalira in the coming years, and the Pyrenean territory has already been confirmed as host for the European Speed Skiing Cup Finals (19-22 March 2015), the Alpine Skiing World Cup (February 2016) and the Finals of the Men's and Women's Alpine Skiing World Cup Finals in 2017. Of special note is the upcoming Flying Kilometer World Championship, set to take place at the resort next season.
Grandvalira also saw the 50th anniversary celebrations of Soldeu-El Tarter. This season, the resort also started a series of new activities aimed at specific visitors such as snow rugby (for the French market), and also played host to the second edition of the leading electronic music festival in the Pyrenees: ElectroSnow.