Skidata: Summer guests do not travel light

SKIDATA Launches 'sMove': A Barrier-Free Access Solution Tailored for the Summer Mountain Boom

SALZBURG, Austria — As mountain resorts around the world increasingly transform into year-round playgrounds, the nature of alpine arrivals has shifted dramatically. On any given morning, lift terminals are no longer just crowded with skiers carrying streamlined gear; instead, they are filled with visitors pushing strollers, maneuvering heavy mountain bikes, and hoisting bulky paragliding or hang-gliding backpacks.

Recognizing this changing landscape, alpine access giant SKIDATA has officially launched sMove, a wide, barrier-free access gate explicitly designed to handle the complex realities of modern summer tourism.

Redesigning the Alpine Entry Point

Traditional turnstiles and narrow access gates have long been a pain point for summer operations, frequently causing bottlenecks as guests struggle to squeeze wide gear or wide-wheeled strollers through tight spaces.

The sMove system replaces the rigid, narrow barriers of the past with an expansive, motion-optimized lane. By prioritizing space and seamless motion, the gate is engineered to accommodate:

• Families: Parents navigating heavy-duty all-terrain strollers or pull-wagons.

• Cyclists: Mountain bikers and e-bike riders who can now wheel their heavy frames straight through without lifting them over barriers.

• Aviation Adventurers: Paragliders and hang-gliders carrying oversized, wide gear backpacks.

• Accessibility Needs: Visitors requiring wheelchair access or extra physical space to move independently.

Seamless Smartphone Ticket Integration

To maximize efficiency at the base station, SKIDATA has tightly integrated the sMove physical architecture with its latest smartphone ticketing ecosystem. Rather than requiring guests to dig through deep backpacks for paper passes or plastic RFID cards while juggling gear, the system utilizes a simple tap-and-go digital workflow:

The Digital Journey: Buy the ticket online → Hold up the smartphone → Walk straight through.

By eliminating the typical friction at the gate, the technology removes the stressful, awkward juggling act that often delays the start of an outdoor excursion.

A Double Win for Guests and Operators

For mountain resort operators, the summer season often presents tougher crowd-management challenges than winter, as the variety of equipment drastically slows down transit speeds. The wide-lane configuration of sMove provides a predictable, accelerated guest flow, reducing wait times at the base and opening up cluttered arrival plazas.

For the guests, the benefit is immediate: it ensures that their mountain experience begins exactly the way a vacation should—simple, fast, and completely stress-free.