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- Real estate advice
- A future of year-round alpine experience
A summer destination in the 19th century, and a winter playground since the 1960s thanks to the government’s “snow plan,” which gave vast swaths of the public access to winter sports, the mountains are now a four-season playground. In winter, tourists come to enjoy skiing, but also to soak up the atmosphere of mountain villages. Meanwhile, in the summer, the peaks are attracting more and more people in search of an authentic way of life, far from the crowds and the heat. The 2023 season saw a slight increase in occupancy rates to around 50% for the period from mid-June to mid-September.
Jean-Luc Boch, President of the ANMSM, the French mountain mayoral association, confirmed this appeal: “Once again, the mountains are able to offer what summer holidaymakers are looking for: Nature, recharged batteries, relaxation with the family, and a wide range of activities to suit all profiles – not forgetting the many events organised in the resorts.” And it seems demand is rising! According to the G2A Montagne Leaders survey, more than 75% of summer visitors to the mountains say they would come back again. That being said, in property sales terms, the two seasons are far from equal. Summer accounts for around €3 billion in sales, compared with €9-10 billion in winter.
Buyers are equally enthusiastic. Since the Covid-19 pandemic and the switch to hybrid working, 27% are looking for a village resort with services and shops open all year round, offering a mix of skiing and leisure activities, according to the 2023 Ski Property Report. Chamonix, Morzine, Megève, Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc, Serre Chevalier, Les Saisies and Le Grand-Bornand are the clear leaders in this category. These are resorts, which offer more than just skiing, are not content with simply having a summer programme and are instead developing year-round living experiences that also benefit local communities.
Lively resorts all year round
To attract year-round visitors, resorts are building on their rich local heritage and structuring their offering to reconnect with nature and provide access to other sporting activities. Val Thorens, for example, believes strongly in the future of the Via 3 Vallées cycle path and its new sports centre, hoping it will boost its otherwise smaller summer clientele. Meanwhile, Serre Chevalier, whose hamlet of Le Casset became a listed “Mountaineering Village” in 2022, is banking on the boom in popularity of climbing. Some are investing in major facilities (spas, swimming pools, ice rinks) such as Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc, which has completely renovated its thermal baths, Les Saisies, which has built Le Signal water sports centre, and Courchevel, home to the vast Aquamotion centre. Other resorts, such as La Clusaz and Morzine, are showcasing their know-how and heritage by offering a range of experiences linked to the region. Visitors can expect guided tours of farms to find out how Reblochon cheese is made, and to sawmills to watch how a beehive is created, for example. Last but not least, many resorts offer an extensive programme of events.
“ Since the pandemic and the switch to hybrid working, 27% of buyers are looking for a resort that is open all year round, offering a mix of skiing and leisure activities.”
Every summer, Megève hosts the Jumping International horse racing event (6-14 July), which attracts more than 25,000 visitors, while Toquicimes, an autumn culinary event, attracted 27,000 participants last year (18-20 October). Chamonix, where the UTMB ultramarathon (26 August to 1 September) attracts 26,000 visitors – and generates €16 million in associated revenue for the valley – has a host of events throughout the year, including Cosmojazz, a festival invented and led by André Manoukian (22-27 July), and the Chamonix Photo Nature Festival, supported by wildlife photographer Vincent Munier (25-27 October). The same dynamic can be observed in Grand-Bornand, where the Au Bonheur des Mômes festival (32nd edition from 25-29 August), Europe’s leading cultural event for young people, attracts almost 90,000 festival-goers, both young and old, who join the year-round population of 2,000 inhabitants.
While this development of seasonal events is more difficult to achieve for resorts created from scratch in previously untouched, others such as Tignes have been able to put their specificities to their advantage. In addition to its glacier for summer skiing, the destination boasts a 61-acre natural lake for water sports in the mountains. Water, peaks, forests and more – the recipe for a perfect summer !
