“We don’t want to become like Disneyland, of course – but it’s important to be open to new ideas, to bring new life to the village.”
Bänz Simmen, a local guide with an irrepressible energy and staggering depth of knowledge about Andermatt and the surrounding area, relays this at the end of our 90-minute tour around the Swiss Alpine village. By this point, I have lost all feeling in my feet – it is -10C – on a walk that was meant to last an hour. But Bänz was just bursting with interesting information, from the region’s ice age history and unique geography that meant travellers passed through from all directions, to the village’s more recent transformation from a military base to a world-class ski resort, that it was worth sacrificing some toe sensitivity for.
As someone who grew up here and has such a passion for his home, it’s gratifying, if somewhat surprising, to hear Bänz talk so warmly of the village’s dramatic glow-up. After all, not everyone can accept change so easily. But he is something of a pragmatist, acknowledging that, once the army jobs dried up, the area began haemorrhaging inhabitants. “Tourism was something that we used to do well – it’s just us returning to what we’ve always done,” he says of this latest change in fortunes.
Andermatt’s sunny side of the ski area on Gütsch
(Helen Coffey)
The speed of Andermatt’s rebirth has been breathtaking, thanks largely to the vision – and massive cash injection – of Egyptian billionaire Samih Sawiris. He’s already funnelled a whopping CHF1.5bn (£1.3bn) into the project since 2006, constructing a new resort that will, as it expands, join up with the original village. As part of its development into an upscale destination that can compete with Europe’s plentiful ski playgrounds, Andermatt now has two new major hotels – ultra-luxe five-star The Chedi and the more modest but still pretty slick Radisson Blu Hotel Reussen, where I’m staying – with several more planned, alongside a number of quality restaurants. Part of the template is that each hotel is also built with self-contained apartments available for purchase, with this money helping fund the next stage of development.
If you’re wondering what an Egyptian billionaire could possibly know about running an Alpine ski area, you wouldn’t be alone –it’s a question…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Independent Travel…