The word “convenience” covers a multitude of meanings. It defines a comfortable, uncomplicated service with high quality and customer orientation. Tourism Monitor Switzerland (TMS) 2017 offers some important insights relating to convenience: 45% of those surveyed stated that the most difficult phase came before the trip itself (range of options, choosing a destination, information about public transport, accommodation, etc.). 30% find getting to their destination to involve the greatest effort, while for 25% the hardest part was the actual stay itself. The demand for convenience and the potential for Swiss tourism is therefore great: the more “convenient” these things are made, the greater the probability that the visitor will return to Switzerland a second time.

Luggage transport by SBB: simple and free-of-charge until the end of winter 2019/2020.

Book an offer – anytime
Online Travel Agents (OTA) like GetYourGuide, Viator or bookatable.ch by Michelin exemplify convenience and are growing in popularity. Thanks to real-time availability, all activities, tickets for sights and restaurants can be booked spontaneously around the clock from any location. Tedious phone calls enquiring about vacancies are a thing of the past. For Swiss tourism, it is worthwhile checking when such offers with the relevant providers make sense. The opportunities for national success with a separate platform are greatest in niche areas. An example of this is MySwitzerland.com/weintourismus – guided wine experiences throughout Switzerland have been bookable here since 2019. This is made possible through a collaboration with Swiss Wine Promotion.

Luggage Special with SBB
A study by the Organisation Economic Cooperation and Development in Europe (OECD) on the future of tourism focuses some of its attention on the issue of the mobility needs of future visitors. Given the fact that the world’s population is ageing, the need for convenience in transportation will continue to grow. Driven by such developments, Switzerland Tourism ST launched a Luggage Special offer together with SBB in 2019. The luggage belonging to visitors in Switzerland is picked up at their front door and transported to the relevant destination by SBB and 396 participating hotels as well as 373 holiday homes (as at December 2019).