“Upgrade Your Winter” remains the slogan for the winter campaign 2018/2019. Families play a key role here: to attract new visitors for the long term and retain existing ones, Switzerland Tourism ST launched the Kids4Free initiative, with 44 ski areas taking part, along with cable cars and mountain railways in six regions. A total of 12,770 weekly ski passes for children under the age of 12 were won thanks to this cooperation. Within one month, 30,500 participants from 60 countries entered the draw for one of the coveted passes. 60% had previously visited Switzerland, while 40% had never visited or had not done so in a long while.

It is parents who matter most of all when it comes to encouraging future generations to go to Switzerland for winter sports. That is one of the findings of a winter study (German) carried out by the University of St. Gallen (HSG) and commissioned by ST. In the study, HSG identifies ten opportunities – with parents among them.