Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics - Ski Mountaineering - Bormio, Italy - February 3, 2026 General view of the Olympic rings at the Piazza Cavour in Bormio REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
BORMIO, Italy, Feb 3 (Reuters) - The northern Italian mountain town of Bormio is no stranger to international ski competitions but the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics are on a different scale.
Many hotels and restaurants are expecting booming customer numbers at the site of the men’s Alpine ski and ski mountaineering races, but other local businesses that rely on regular ski tourism in winter months are less optimistic.
Ski rental shops and the chalet restaurants that line slopes soon to be reserved for elite athletes are facing financial pressures during what is normally their busiest month when many Italians enjoy their annual "settimana bianca" (ski holiday week) in the mountains.
OFF LIMITS TO THE REGULAR SKIER
Bormio, like many mountain towns, lives off tourism and in winter, that tourism revolves around skiing. The town of about 4,000 people has around 10ski and bike rental shops surrounding its ski lift.
This year that ski lift will be closed to the public from February 1 to 16. It is still uncertain to what extent it will be operational from February 17-22 during the ski mountaineering events.
Some businesses are in the meantime getting creative to fill the gap.
Bormio’s ski school, which won’t be able to hold its regular coaching sessions, has its employees helping to prepare the slope for the big races by setting up nets.
Danilo Compagnoni, owner of Bormio Ski & Bike, expects his shop to make little money this month.
His rental store, however, has a small bar in the entry facing the Stelvio slope. He hopes this will bring in some customers.
“We have to close everything else, the only job is the bar,” Compagnoni said.
Others echo his concern.
“Of course we are worried about these months because it’s the most important for our income,” said Marianna Cresseri, 52, owner of OkGo Cresseri Ski Rent Bormio.
She has started offering direct delivery of ski equipment to customers and is selling Olympic merchandise in her store.
RESTAURANTS ON THE SLOPE FORCED TO CLOSE
The toughest luck perhaps befalls the restaurants lining the ski slope that are off limits during the Games and forced to close or only cater for Olympic workers.
“I have to acknowledge that this year we have to take a huge loss,” Federico Resnati, co-owner of Chalet La Rocca, said. “We're going to lose about two to three weeks of the season.”
Chalet La Rocca, which Resnati runs with his brother, employs 26 staff, and revenues during this peak tourism season are usually around 300,000 euros ($350,000) per month, he said.
Silvia Braconi, who runs Chalet dei Rododendri Bormio with her husband, said they have been luckier because their business is also a hotel. They did a deal with Milano Cortina to host and cook for police reinforcements.
"We don't have the same business as the other years, but okay, we are lucky, we are working," Braconi said.
HOPE FOR FUTURE BENEFITS
Resnati said he has been in talks with lawyers since last May and that he and seven other businesses have complained to the region of Lombardy about not receiving written statements or clarity from Games organisers despite being placed in the “red zone” where access is limited.
The Milano Cortina foundation has not responded to a request for comment.
Many of Bormio’s business owners are also taking solace from the statistics that show Olympic host locations benefit from a boost in tourism following the global exposure offered by the Games.
“I hope that God helps us. We are so happy for the Olympics, it’s a good thing for our village,” Cresseri said.
Resnati too acknowledges the potential future benefits, saying he is sure the Games will bring a lot of new tourists in the coming years.
“We recognise that for sure,” he said, but added that the pressures of running his chalet did not disappear overnight.
"We have to do a balance sheet at the end of the year. And if we take a big loss this year, we have banks, we have rent, we have employees.”
($1 = 0.8479 euros)
(Reporting by Marleen Kaesebier, Editing by Keith Weir)
