And as is the case with Compagnie des Alpes, nine out of every ten customers arrive by car or train as well.

BBC: Fear of flying lifts alpine shares

Ski lifts operator Compagnie des Alpes' dependence on visitors from overseas is negligible, given that 95% of the skiers in the French, Italian and Swiss Alp resorts are European.

BBC: Fear of flying lifts alpine shares

As a result, the first luxury hotel opened in Chamonix in 1816 and the famous Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix, or association of accredited mountain guides, was founded just five years later.

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Unfortunately for its new shareholders, chairman Jacques Friedmann was a longtime civil servant who knew little about the insurance business -- before uap he had run state-owned Air France and Compagnie Gnrale Maritime.

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