January 23, 2024·News·Barbora Turková
Kateřina Neumannová. (Source: Frequency 1)
Kateřina Neumannová, Olympic champion, world champion in cross-country skiing and member of the Association of Mountain Resorts, was a guest of the Press Club of Frequency 1. With Romana Navarová, she discussed not only the financial situation in the Czech mountains or whether she will return to the start of the Jizerská 50.
Outside the winter season, mountain resorts have several hundred inhabitants. In the winter, however, thousands of visitors come to the mountain resorts, who demand all the comfort. “There are ski area operators and then there are the municipalities in which the resorts are located. In general, it can be said that the mountain resorts are, with exceptions, on the periphery of the borders and brings life there. It fluctuates between days when visitors who want comfort like they have in the Alps go there, and then there are ordinary days. It’s a connected vessel and it depends on how cold it is, but as far as life in the villages is concerned, it’s not easy. We have a big task ahead of us to straighten it out in the future, because it is not easy at all for the municipalities,” says Neumannová, adding that the cooperation between the center and the municipality must be very close. “In our country, it is completely normal for ski area operators to pay for ski buses and other services from their own funds, which, for example, are paid from other sources abroad. The collaboration must be close, otherwise the visitors would feel it.”
According to Neumannová, the primary task of the Association is not to raise money for mountain resorts. “It is important for us to create the conditions for them to function and to generate profits and pay taxes through their activities. We mainly participate in the creation of legislation for the most efficient business. We always come across that u we are always very poor in supporting tourism; the work with taxes and funds that are generated in these areas is inadequate. One crown that participants spend in the ski resort generates another seven crowns in other services. Ministries should think about how to make life easier for these municipalities so that we are doing well compared to other countries,” thinks Neumannová.
I would like to improve my time on the Jizerské 50
Even though we don’t have any mountain peaks in the Czech Republic, they also attract foreign tourists. “Poles, Germans, and Dutch go to the Giant Mountains. However, Czech visitors and Czech skiers will always be primary for the Czech mountains,” is the convinced gold Olympian, who thinks that the number of ski slopes will not increase dramatically in our country. “Campuses are rather on the way improving the quality of the slopes and modernization, and no more new areas are being built. Our biggest availability is an advantage; why shouldn’t someone who wants to go to the mountains several times a season get in the car and drive to us when they are in the Czech mountains in a moment? Why would he drive hundreds of kilometers somewhere like that for the weekend? In addition, this also applies to prices. When you buy in normal skipass prices, so we are still a bit cheaper. For less enthusiastic skiers, we have here many long pistes and new pistes are opening. We won’t make the mountains bigger, but the rest of us are trying to keep up.”
In just a few days, the legendary Jizerská 50 will start and Neumannová will once again stand at the start. “Last year I gave myself 50 for my fiftieth birthday and this year I will participate in the intergenerational start together with my daughter. But we’ll see on what track. I’m still keeping a window open for the iconic 50. If the conditions are good, I would like to improve last year’s time. Last year the snow was not very fast and the track was slow and did not record good times. I would like to squeeze it under three hours,” promises Kateřina Neumannová.
