Small but perfectly formed – and very close to the members and partners: Switzerland Tourism ST and HotellerieSuisse relied on a new format for the Hotel Marketing Day 2022. Instead of holding one event per year in German-speaking Switzerland and one in French-speaking Switzerland, as was previously the case, the team organised 17 independent events across all of Switzerland’s tourist regions from September to December. For example in Celerina, Graubünden; Martigny, Valais; Interlaken, Bern; Bellinzona, Ticino; and Saignelégier, Jura. This clearly sets the format apart from other events such as the Swiss Vacation Day or the Hospitality Summit. Content and information can be communicated more directly and among a smaller group.

Around 460 people from the hotel industry, hotel associations and groups as well as interested parties from the destinations took part in the free events. The new concept was well received by the participants: “The format is more interactive thanks to manageable group sizes, and regional aspects are brought further into focus,” says Jürg Degiacomi, Chairman of the Board of Historic Hotel Chesa Salis and Gasthaus Spinas in Bever, Graubünden.

Identifying new strategies and tourism trends

In terms of content, the Hotel Marketing Day focused on questions concerning strategy, markets and trends – and thus met the expectations of the participants, as Pierre-André Michoud, owner and manager of the Hôtel du Théâtre in Yverdons-les-Bains, confirms: “I want to know what ST is doing for us and stay up to date on trends.”

Together, representatives and experts from ST and HotellerieSuisse provided information about the focus of the coming years in tourism, about trends in different countries, how Swiss hotels can take advantage of these, what needs guests have nowadays and what they expect in terms of sustainability. Family businesses such as the Restaurant Hotel*** Hirschen in Eggiwil, Bern, where marketing manager Elisabeth Hebeisen has been working for just under a year, benefit from this: “Marketing has been done somewhat casually until now. Since my appointment, we’ve been working on making everything more professional.” Such information and networking events are worth their weight in gold: you get information about existing campaigns, current news and interesting offers. “What’s more, you also get access to the latest market analyses and forecasts for Swiss tourism. This makes it easier to embed our own projects appropriately and take advantage of synergies in the future.”