At the end of May 2018, the members elected Martin Vincenz, CEO of Graubünden Holidays, as new President of the Grand Tour of Switzerland (GToS) Association. The election of was triggered automatically when his predecessor Harry John stepped down as Director of BE! Tourism Ltd. According to the Association’s Articles of Association, the Conference of Regional Directors (CDR/RDK) elects a president for the GToS.

“The Grand Tour of Switzerland is one of the best nationwide tourism products. I am proud to be the Association’s new president,” said Vincenz. “In 2018, we raised awareness in our main markets thanks to targeted marketing activities. We will maintain a focus on doing so in 2019.”

Together with Franziska Amstutz, who took over as head of the GToS Office in April 2018, the Association will take further key initiatives in the touring segment. “Our long-term vision is to be among the top five tourist roads in the world. We want to move closer to achieving that goal with a lot of fresh ideas,” said Amstutz.

“Travel warning” and partnership with Mazda

One such idea is the series of seven “travel warnings”, short films that portray the unexpected side-effects of the Grand Tour of Switzerland in a humorous way. They were shown on YouTube, social media and screens at fuel stations. And as the report shows, they were a great success. Another example is the new partnership with Japanese carmaker Mazda. The innovative “My Magic Road Trip” campaign gave Swiss people the chance to take a two-day trip in a Mazda CX-5 on Switzerland’s most beautiful roads and to spend the night in their very own Mazda Design Cube – in places they couldn’t normally do so.

The partnership with Mazda has been agreed for three years. In addition to targeted campaigns, it also includes various basic communication services.