The Jungfrau Railway Group can look back on a successful year in terms of visitor numbers. Strong demand from Asia contributed to the high visitor numbers at the Jungfraujoch. 1.056 million visitors travelled to the Top of Europe in 2019. This is the second-best result in the history of the Jungfraujoch. This means that the one million visitor mark was exceeded for the fourth time. The intensive market cultivation – above all in Asia – was important here, which further strengthened the Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe brand. The decline compared to the previous year was 1.0 per cent despite many days lost due to stormy winds especially during November/December.
After a stormy start to winter, the official opening of the 2019/2020 winter sports season took place in early December. The partial opening of the new Grindelwald Terminal, the new Männlichen aerial gondola and the direct public transport connection with the Grindelwald Terminal stop on the Bernese Oberland Railway (BOB) was met with interest from many curious winter sports guests. The presale of season passes, which was positive, is encouraging. 42,198 (compared to 38,000 in 2018) Top4 skipasses (partner offer from Adelboden-Lenk, Gstaad, Jungfrau Ski Region and Meiringen-Hasliberg) were sold in advance by 15 December 2019 at a price of CHF 666. The Jungfrau Ski Region is a co-operation in which the Jungfrau Railway Group holds more than 60%. From the start of the season until 31st December 2019, the Jungfrau Ski Region registered 165,300 skier visits and recorded a growth of 8.0 per cent on this period a year ago.
In the Experience Mountains segment, the other railways in the group all performed better than the previous year. First Aerial Cableway (+20.4%) welcomed the 700,000th guest for the first time. First Aerial Cableway and Harder Railway (+11.7%) continued their positive trend and both achieved a significant increase in the number of guests compared to the record level of the previous year. In 2019, the Harder Railway was in operation for the third time until the end of November. The 300,000th guest was welcomed on the Harder Railway for the first time – which is why the total frequencies in the reporting year exceeded 600,000 for the first time. This again vindicated the company's decision to extend the Harder season by one month. The Mürren Rail & Cableway carried 456,300 passengers and was able to outperform the previous year’s good performance by 12.3 per cent. Cross-marketing with the Jungfraujoch contributed to the positive result.
| Passenger numbers 2019 | Passenger numbers 2018 | Change in per cent |
Jungfrau Railway (Jungfraujoch arrival)
| 1,056,000 | 1,067,000 | -1.0% |
Grindelwald-First (From the valley station, summer & winter)
| 707,100 | 587,500 | +20.4% |
Mürren Railway (From the valley station, whole year)
| 456,300 | 406,500 | +12.3% |
Harder Railway (Total frequency April–November)
| 606,200 | 542,500 | +11.7% |
| Skier visits Season start – 31/12/2019 | Skier visits Season start – 31/12/2018 | Change in per cent |
Jungfrau Ski Region
| 165,300 | 153,100 | +8.0% |