Winters aren’t what they used to be: today there’s the winter season when it snows too much, the season when it snows too little and the season when it’s too cold; in recent years we have seen different kinds of winters, and one common factor is that it snows less and less – especially at lower altitudes.
The lack of snow is making some ski centres disappear (see Kaberlaba in Asiago) that were once the destination of a great many skiers and now find themselves facing the winter months struggling with rain or scarce snowfall. The damage is far from negligible for the ski areas at higher altitudes too: a lack of snow can mean postponing the opening of the season or force an early closure, and even when the calendar is respected – if there’s no snow – skiers prefer to stay at home rather than ski on rocks.
How to tackle the problem?
One solution that has helped improve the situation has been the arrival of large-scale snowmaking systems: almost all ski areas have installed them and often manage to get the season under way even if there are only 5 cm of natural snow on the ground. However, running snowmaking systems costs money, and if the season is unfavourable the costs skyrocket, pushing the accounts into the red.
In Veneto a company has decided to put an end to the problem by offering “insurance against too little snow“. The insurance company has started work on creating a policy capable of covering the economic damage caused by a winter that is too dry or too rainy, solving with a single contract the thousand problems caused by too little snow.
The snow policy is structured so as to cover both the damage to tourism (drop in bookings) and the damage caused by increased costs (snowmaking systems constantly running), protecting the ski resort from any possible collateral damage.
To do this the Veneto insurance company has turned to a weather centre which, over the last few months, has put together a team of weather experts and statisticians to calculate the probabilities and set the policy premium.
This new insurance product will certainly be appreciated by lift companies and by all operators in the sector; in fact, the first to call for this new insurance cover were the managers of a Hotel in Cortina d’Ampezzo struggling with bad winters that had caused a drop in stays, with consequent economic losses.
But if for some too little snow is a loss, there are also those who see too much snow as a loss! This is the case of road maintenance companies, which every winter swing into action with salt spreaders and snowploughs as soon as the first snowflakes start to fall. For these companies, a winter with heavy snowfall has a negative impact on their accounts, increasing the costs of labour, fuel and the salt itself.
The Veneto company has thought of them too, “coming to their rescue” with a policy against too much snow.
With the same tools it will be possible to offer 2 completely different policies, capable of keeping pretty much everyone happy. 2 birds with one stone, you might say; we’ll see how the situation develops. In the meantime, we’re hoping for a winter with LOTS OF SNOW, and if not, there’s always the insurance ;)
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