Skiing: the telephone pass, the new innovation for resorts

Digitization affects all sectors, even ski resorts.

While the resorts are closed this year, those involved in their digitization are already preparing for the return of skiers to the slopes.

This Saturday, March 13, the Austrian company Skidata tested its technology for digitizing ski passes at Sept Laux in Isère.

The aim is to offer skiers the opportunity to hold their ski pass directly on their phone from an application and without having to take it out of their pocket thanks to Bluetooth.

A so-called "

"

package

.

In the event of an expired or invalid ski pass, the access control application will recognize the error and will not allow the skier to pass.

“

», Explains Guy Thesserau, Managing Director of Skidata.

The test was due to take place in March 2020 but was delayed due to containment.

This weekend, it could only be done with a few members of the French Ski Federation who have access to the slopes.

Another experiment of their technology was carried out in the famous Austrian ski resort Kitzbuhel for a month.

The main investment that ski resorts wishing to modernize will have to make is the acquisition of connected turnstiles.

Skidata plans to market its solution for the winter of 2022-2023 but did not wish to reveal the amounts necessary for its installation in the stations.

Tourism: frequentation of ski resorts halved in February

The Austrian company is not the only player to position itself in this niche.

The Austrian company Axess and the Italian company Alfi are also in the race.

“

” claims Chicco Ippolito, CEO of Alfi.

The company has been working on this new technology since 2016 and aims for commercial deployment next season.

The problem with this new solution lies in the battery since a switched on phone is essential to join the slopes.

"

 ", recognizes Guy Thesserau.