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The worldwide Covid-19 pandemic had a severe impact on business tourism. According to the Switzerland Convention and Incentive Bureau (SCIB), turnover in 2020 shrank by CHF 113,5 million to CHF 5,4 million for the 97 meetings that were influenced by the SCIB. The year before, the number of meetings was 818. These figures and others like them have been available to the SCIB members in a new dashboard dedicated to business events forming part of Switzerland Tourism ST’s Management Information System (MIS).
Conventions and incentive trips are indispensable for Switzerland as a meeting destination
The pandemic also led to a hefty fall in the number of individual business trips, and that trend looks set to continue beyond the pandemic. Video conferencing platforms such as Zoom and MS Teams have made it plain to companies that a physical presence at meetings is only really needed in exceptional cases. However, this meetings segment has been of only secondary importance for the SCIB, which is why it has never actively marketed it.
By contrast, conventions and incentive trips are indispensable for Switzerland as a meeting destination. Because of the pandemic, these will not be held on the same scale or in the same form as in the pre-pandemic days for two or three years to come, according to forecasts by the non-profit organisation SCIB, which comes under the ST umbrella. City hotels in particular will suffer as a result.
Despite the challenging circumstances, the SCIB sees various opportunities for Switzerland as a meeting destination and laid the foundations for these in 2020.
Land of meetings: small, high-end, digital
Capacity constraints mean that Switzerland is often not well-placed to host larger-scale conventions of over 2,000 people or corporate events and meetings of over 200 participants. However, the SCIB has in recent years observed greater demand for small meetings instead of large events. In 2019, 76% of business events requested and held via the SCIB had fewer than 100 participants. 6% had more than 500 (source: SCIB database).
The pandemic has increased demand for smaller meetings, boosting Switzerland’s opportunities to be considered as a host. The SCIB therefore concentrated on developing new concepts and tools for small, high-quality digital and hybrid meeting solutions. In view of the long lead times for conventions, company meetings and incentive trips, the foundations for such future events had to be laid amid the pandemic in 2020.
Safety and cleanliness in business tourism
2020 also saw a greatly increased need for safety and cleanliness. This is an area where Switzerland can shine: it continues to be perceived internationally as a very clean and safe country.
Great efforts were made to maintain that reputation, with mandatory safety concepts applying to all segments of the Swiss tourism industry – including business events. The trade associations, at the initiative of ST, launched the Clean & Safe label to communicate these safety concepts in clear and simple terms.
Providers of conference infrastructure at hotels, convention centres and other venues used this label to externally communicate their commitment to hosting safe, clean events. This was especially appreciated by international visitors. The SCIB employees in the markets therefore made increasing use of the label in their communications to promote better awareness outside Switzerland.
Other factors in Switzerland’s favour are its generally reliable infrastructure, high standard of conferencing technology, high-quality healthcare, compact cities and proximity to nature for side-event programmes and holiday activities.
SCIB experts in the markets
The importance of the SCIB’s in-person presence in the markets was underscored in 2020, when restrictions made foreign travel a virtual impossibility. Thanks to the efforts of the local SCIB employees, Switzerland nevertheless managed to remain at the top of people’s minds. The SCIB stepped up its personal contact and also represented partners in Switzerland in its market activities. This enabled its partners in this difficult time to reduce or redirect their funds temporarily, in the knowledge that, thanks to the SCIB experts, they will be ready as soon as the situation starts to recover.
During 2020, the SCIB concentrated on nurturing relationships and marketing measures with end-customers, such as decision-makers within companies and associations. At the same time, contact with the remaining key people at agencies was maintained. The intention was always to tap the new potential of business meetings that are shrinking in size and secure them for Switzerland.
Facts and figures
Meetings | 2020 | 2019 | |
Budget | CHF million | 6,1 | 7,6 |
Share of total budget | % | 7,4 | 9,1 |
Tourism turnover | CHF million | 5,4 | 118,9 |
Visits to MySwitzerland.com/meetings | 201,520 | 306,423 | |
KAM-generated overnight stays |
16,251 | 357,062 | |
Number of meetings, events and conferences |
97 | 818 | |
Number of quotation requests processed by SCIB | 469 | 1,506 |