Pierer gets out

Aflenzer Bürgeralm: State to take over lift

Stefan Pierer has been running the small ski resort in Aflenz for around ten years(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Klaus Morgenstern, Martin Jöchl)

Entrepreneur Stefan Pierer is leaving the Aflenzer Bürgeralm ski resort. Now the operators are speaking out for the first time: the public sector should continue to operate the cable car, they want to "accommodate" the successors.

It is a major setback for the entire region: the Aflenzer Bürgeralm is ceasing operations and the financier and owner Stefan Pierer, who has slipped into crisis, is pulling out. The future of the ski resort is therefore uncertain.

Now the operating company Naturerlebnis Bürgeralm is speaking out for the first time: "Since 2015, Stefan Pierer has invested 3.4 million euros in the Bürgeralm project and provided an additional two million euros to cover losses," says Managing Director Günther Essenko. The municipality and the state have supported both ongoing operations and investments.

Reference is made to the 31,000 guests on the cable car in 2024, which proves the "popularity and raison d'être of the Bürgeralm". A cable car of this size should be "seen as an infrastructure facility and should be operated as a regional project by the public sector". Four people are employed there all year round and a further six on a seasonal basis.

Over the last ten years, many entrepreneurs in the region have benefited from the existence of the Aflenzer Bürgeralm without spending any money.

Günther Essenko

Rescue with taxpayers' money?
In short: the state or the municipality should save the lift operation on the Bürgeralm. The business has been losing around 200,000 euros a year. "Stefan Pierer will be very accommodating to the new operators," says Essenko - it doesn't have to be a purchase, a lease solution is also possible.

"For us as a municipality, the question of whether we want this is unfortunately not even on the table," says Mayor Hubert Lenger (ÖVP), as there is simply not enough money. "In the village, of course, a lot depends on the lift operation," says Lenger, such as the sports store or the hotel. "It would be a blow to the community if no solution could be found."

Too early to assess the situation
There have already been preliminary talks with the state. "We are looking at what can be done so that things can continue - however that may be." The office of Governor and Tourism Minister Mario Kunasek (FPÖ) says that it is still too early to assess the situation - a concrete offer and a concrete idea are needed first.