Axess grows by more than 10% in 2023 with global market leadership in the ski business

Leading ticketing and access management system provider Axess AG has advised that, for the first time, it has become the global market leader in one of its core business streams - ticketing and access solutions for mountain railroads and ski resorts.

Since its foundation in 1998, Austrian-based Axess AG has developed a broad product portfolio providing ticketing and access systems the locations including ski resorts, theme and water parks, stadiums, exhibition centres and visitor attraction.

In the 2023 financial year, Axess increased its turnover for the 11th time in a row with an annual turnover of US$86.9 million achieving not only strong growth in ticketing and access solutions for mountain railroads and ski resorts but also in stadiums, leisure and attractions and trade fair and congress solutions segments.

In an online update, the company advised “many customers are enthusiastic about the innovations and new technologies, and the demand to switch to an Axess system is steadily increasing.

“The innovations and new technologies in 2023 include the use of BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) as a replacement for traditional RFID tickets, which already offers skiers on many continents the opportunity to buy tickets directly from the online store and enjoy a day's skiing without having to stop at ticket offices or ticket machines.

“In the stadium and leisure sector, there is also a clear trend towards modern and contemporary ticket technologies such as NFC (near field communication) or the use of biometric identification systems.”

Axess offers a variety of solutions, such as modern readers (certified by Apple & Google), as well as new opportunities through technology partnerships with innovative companies such as Amazon.

For example, since 2023, access to the fitness studios at Crunch Fitness locations in the USA has been via Axess gates with integrated Amazon One palm readers.

At Amazon's Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, thanks to Axess, offers fans the ability to decide whether they enter the arena with a classic barcode or NFC ticket, or to use their palm as a convenient identifier.

Oliver Suter, Axess AG’s Chief Sales Officer, commented "the US market is the main driver of innovation here, but large stadiums such as the Rhein Energie Stadium (1. FC Köln) in Germany are already using NFC wallets on smartphones to allow fans to enter the stadium in a controlled manner.”

Further growth has also been achieved in new markets, such as the UK, with orders such as the Principality Stadium (Wales’ national rugby stadium) in Cardiff, Memorial Stadium in Bristol and the soon-to-open Co-op Live concert arena in Manchester.

In Australia, the convenience of Axess systems is appreciated in ski resorts, theme parks and new customers such as Wollongong’s WIN Stadium and Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium - operated by Venues NSW.

What was made possible in the stadium with NFC and biometrics was realised in the ski segment with technologies such as Bluetooth Low Energy.

Daniel Wakounig, Axess AG’s Chief Technical Officer and Executive Board member responsible for the technological strategy, notes “in addition to classic RFID media, Axess has been offering field-tested Bluetooth Low Energy access points that are ready for series production since last year.

“In combination with the Axess SkiWallet app, this technology makes it possible to save your ski ticket on your cell phone and then use it like a normal ticket. The cell phone does not have to be taken out of the jacket, the gate recognises the ticket on the cell phone automatically and at the same speed as a normal ticket.”

Axess has already taken on a leading role worldwide with its innovative technologies.

For example, the renowned American ski resort of Aspen has also been relying on the systems and technology from Anif since this year.

With the largest ski halls in the world, the Shanghai Ski Hall, and the modernisation of the Dubai Ski Hall, two further projects with a strong image have been equipped.

Axess scores here with experience from established projects in Australia, including URBNSURF Melbourne and the soon-to-open URBNSURF Sydney. Further expertise in these areas has been gained through countless international theme park projects. Axess gates can be found in various entertainment parks almost all over the Arabian Peninsula.

Contributing to Axess' success story are its almost 500 employees who support the average of four new customers per week. Last year alone, 35.4 million RFID tickets were produced at the Axess plant in Innsbruck and more than 3,000 new access points were installed worldwide.

The systems are currently used for 17 million web transactions in the ski area every year.

Axess AG Chief Executive and Managing Director, Christian Windhager adds “the healthy and profound growth of Axess AG therefore allows for an extremely positive forecast for the future.

“Growth seems to be in the company's genes and will not stop in the coming year either.”

Axess AG will be exhibiting in Booths 4 and 5 at the upcoming Venue Management Congress in Brisbane from 19th to 21st May.

Click here to contact Axess’ Australasian branch via their entry in the Australasian Leisure Management Supplier Directory.

Images:  Axess AG is the global market leader in ticketing and access solutions for mountain railroads and ski resorts (top), the Axxess AG senior management team (middle) and Axxess AG technology installed at Auckland's Eden Park (below). Credit: Eden Park.