The effort involved in staging the Traillove Festival and the Enduro World Series in Zermatt is no mean feat, not least because the village is still car-free. This means that the trails on which the races are ridden are damaged within a relatively short space of time. In addition, the paths have to be closed to other users. Not to mention the potential for conflict. Where is the benefit of such an event? In addition, Zermatt already has enough tourists and could actually do without mountain bikers - actually.

Mountain bikers as quality guests

In this historic mountain village, the average length of stay is rather low due to mass tourism. As a result, hoteliers and restaurants are hoping for more quality guests to return. Those guests who don't just stay one night, briefly check out all the attractions and leave again, but who like to stay a little longer in the village.

Mountain bikers come onto the scene. Hardly any trail biking fans travel to a place like Zermatt for just one day. They often stay overnight more than once. Visits to restaurants at lunchtime and in the evening and, of course, mountain railway tickets, perhaps being shown the best trails by a bike guide and celebrating après-bike afterwards - that's what mountain bikers spend money on.

Enduro World Series - the promoter among the events

The Enduro World Series races not only attract around 400 participants from various countries to Zermatt, they also have a significant side effect. The often underestimated advertising effect that these races generate is more sustainable than the number of participants and spectators. And this has already been able to shake some regions out of their economic slumber.
Derby in Tasmania, for example: The dortige Bikepark opened in 2015, before which the region was barely known. After the first World Series race in Derby in 2017, around 30,000 visitors were registered up to and including 2018, with an average overnight stay of four nights - and the trend is rising.

The reason for this are racing pictures and stories that are carried out into the world by specialist media. In addition, some racing photographers, many athletes and not least the racing series itself have a considerable reach on social media, which means that the respective areas are already well known. All the more so if a region is well received by them.
In the days leading up to the World Series race in Zermatt, there were hardly any Instagram posts and stories from racers and photographers that didn't feature the Matterhorn. And these posts obviously didn't go unnoticed by their fans.

Unlike Derby, Zermatt is not in a deep economic slumber. But the media coverage of the Enduro World Series could also bear fruit here, attracting trail tourists from all over the world in future and thus generating more added value in the town.
The real impact of the media World Series hype on Zermatt cannot be quantified for at least another year. What is clear, however, is that even for the most famous mountain village, a wide range of high-quality guests is important in the long term. And mountain bikers are undoubtedly one of them.

And the negative points

The trails that are torn up after the races are neither beautiful to look at nor great to ride on in some cases. However, as the trail crew on site started reshaping the trails after the race, the unsightly condition is only short-lived. All users will soon be able to enjoy the well-maintained trails again.
Some participants reported that hikers got lost on a downhill stage that was closed off for the race. This remained an unfavorable exception in which no one was harmed. According to Adrian Greiner, co-initiator of the Traillove Festival, there were otherwise very few conflicts and there were no direct complaints.