Il controllo dei costi nelle imprese funiviarie

Alpine tourism accounts for 13.2% of Italian overnights; it is the third most important supply segment. Within the mountain offer, snow tourism represents the core target, both in term of volumes (number of clients) and, above all, in terms of tourist expenditure. Winter alpine tourism is strongly related to snow and therefore to ski companies. The latter show increasing financial difficulties. Among the causes able to increase the break-even point and able to sometimes generate operating losses, it is important to remember: high investment, salaries expenses, and high costs necessary to produce and manage slopes. Some firms present high debt/equity ratio and therefore incur high interest expenses. The economic difficulties of ski companies can generate negative externalities to alpine destinations, given the centrality of the ski product. For this reason financial control plays a strategic role not only for ski companies, but for all the businesses related to skiing. The present paper proposes a methodology to develop cost control, centred around key operating processes.