Alpenwelt-Card is not limitless fun

Created: 01/24/2022, 08:00

By: Christof Schnürer

Lightning rod: Sabrina Blandau takes the guests' complaints very seriously.

© Josef Hornsteiner

The vacationer knows no destination borders.

The experiences of a man from Berlin show that there is room for improvement when it comes to guest cards in the Alpenwelt Karwendel and beyond.

Experts from the Zugspitz-Region-GmbH want to have recognized this and are working on a coherent overall solution.

Oberes Isartal

– After the experience during the Christmas holidays, there is no doubt for a holidaymaker from Berlin: “Other tourist regions solve this much better.” The man who wanted to enjoy the environmentally friendly mountains and nature in the Werdenfelser Land experienced his blue miracle. In a letter to Sabrina Blandau, Managing Director of Alpenwelt-Karwendel-GmbH, the Berliner vented his anger a little and wished for a solution – for example a cross-valley guest card in combination with local public transport.

The following excursion prompted the spa guest to complain: On New Year's Day, he and a few friends went up to the Zugspitze. "I was able to convince everyone to take the bus." From the district in Gerold to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, that was no problem. "Then we had tickets for the Zugspitzbahn and took the cog railway up to the Zugspitze and the gondola to the Eibsee." From there, the holidaymakers hiked to Grainau. However, the Alpenwelt Card was not valid for the bus to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. "Everyone had to pay." Arriving at the train station in the Olympia resort, the Berliners were recommended the train to Klais as the best connection. "We would have had to wait almost three quarters of an hour for the bus from Garmisch to Gerold." The surprise was even greater when they were told thatthat the guest card is also not valid for one station on the regional train. "Again, everyone had to pay the full fare." The comment of a fellow passenger was clear: "Next time we'll take the car again. It's cheaper and faster.”

A guest card only makes sense if buses and trains in the area can also be used.

Vacationers from Berlin

Conclusion: There remains one dissatisfied guest who wanted to go on a trip that was as climate-neutral as possible.

The Berliner knows areas where this already works wonderfully - for example on Lake Constance.

"They can use any public transport there," says the spa guest.

“A guest card only makes sense if buses and trains in the area can also be used.

Tourists are not interested in regional borders like here between Mittenwald, Krün and Garmisch.”

Addressee Blandau has to grudgingly agree with him. "Unfortunately, there is currently no way to include DB's rail network," Blandau regretted in a statement to the vacationer. "But the connection from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Gerold was increased and expanded by the RVO (Editor's note: Regionalverkehr Oberbayern) to an hourly cycle." The journey from Grainau back to Garmisch-Partenkirchen is included in the Zugspitzbahn round trip ticket if to use the train.

According to Blandau, it is "part of the strategy of the Alpenwelt Karwendel" to make tourism in the Upper Isar Valley "as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible". For this reason, the cooperation with public transport has been "continuously intensified and expanded". The starting signal was given more than ten years ago with the introduction of hiking, ski and guest buses. "Since 2017, guests with the Alpenwelt Card have also been able to use the RVO buses throughout the route network free of charge." But the most recent example shows the limits of this service. Blandau therefore promises: “We want to work even more closely with the surrounding towns and regions. Because we see that guests do not know any territorial boundaries.”

In this context, the Alpenwelt boss refers to the Zugspitz-Region-GmbH, which is already working on a solution.

"How we will implement this is still in the stars," admits the employee responsible for this, Philipp Holz.

But the whole thing should be “tracked in this year”.

How remains the exciting question.

Because you are dealing with service providers and negotiating partners such as Deutsche Bahn, for example.

But for the holiday guest 2.0 there is no alternative to digitization and environmentally friendly visitor management for wood.

After all, the region between Staffelsee and Karwendel should continue to fascinate holidaymakers in the future.