The tourism industry meets in Arosa

In the tranquil mountain village of Arosa, things got hectic again towards the end of the season. On April 12th and 13th, 1065 tourism professionals from all over the country gathered for the “Swiss Holiday Day”, organized by Switzerland Tourism ST. It is the largest and most important specialist event in the industry. After three years, it was finally able to take place physically on site again.

Clear the stage for lots of optimism
Federal Councilor Alain Berset provided a first highlight. In his welcome speech, he not only emphasized his enthusiasm for Switzerland as a holiday destination, he also showed himself to be humorous and found that he did not just want a “holiday day” but a “holiday month” – but a whole month’s vacation is hardly possible as a Federal Councilor.

Brigitta M. Gadient, President of Switzerland Tourism, was also on the stage with a greeting in which she was optimistic about the future of tourism. In his speech on the potential of innovations, best-selling author Alexander Osterwalder provided important ideas for the entire conference.

A special moment of the opening event was the performance of Roger Federer. The athlete was not live on stage – but he was connected live via Facetime mobile phone screen on the big screen. He spoke sympathetically and approachably about the shooting of Switzerland Tourism’s new image film with Anne Hathaway. [RELATED]

Comprehensive expertise, rich exchange
On the two days, 35 interactive lectures and workshops presented current topics and discussed burning questions. In the presentations, tourism trends were treated like hybrid events, it was about digitization, the relevance of sustainability and, for example, Generation Z as guests and employees of the future.

The “Holiday Day” was a complete success. “People really appreciated seeing each other live,” says Martin Nydegger from Switzerland Tourism. “That was basically a highlight.” Due to the pandemic, discussions in tourism in recent years have often revolved around difficult topics. The mood has now changed. “There is a lot of optimism in the industry, there is a good groove,” says Nydegger happily. He also thinks that the event has made people want to innovate.

The only thing that could get better in the future is the number of participants: with almost 1100 participants, the event was very well attended, in previous years up to 1300 experts were present. “Unfortunately, we realize that the pandemic is still here.”

The conclusion of Switzerland Tourism: “We need this vacation day. And in physical form: Because that’s how a real exchange can take place.” (htr/cl)

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