“Wir gehen volles Risiko. Aber nie k. o.” – We take all the risks. But it’s never game over. – goes one of Beatrice Egli’s songs. The fact that the Swiss schlager singer and presenter has a penchant for adrenaline-fuelled activities is not entirely new. Flashback to 2021: As part of Switzerland Tourism (ST)’s 100% Women campaign, Beatrice Egli conquered the Matterhorn during the Peak Challenge. In 2023, for her next challenge, she ventured out on a fast-paced mountain bike ride on the Höchst Trail in Adelboden BE. The partnership between ST and Egli for the German market is intended to inspire her female fans to go beyond their limits and at the same time draw attention to Switzerland as a cycling destination. 

A big challenge, and plenty of encouragement from her fans
Beatrice Egli says she feels safer when things are going uphill rather than downhill. Nevertheless, the power woman did not hesitate and bravely threw herself into the adventure, accompanied by professional mountain biker Daniela Michel. There were plenty of challenges awaiting Egli. Since the Höchst Trail definitely has it all: a 10% gradient, 3.8 kilometres in length, 410 metres in altitude and various jumps and steep bends speak for themselves. As local partners, Made in Bern, the destination Adelboden-Lenk-Kandersteg and the Adelboden mountain railways provided the right holiday feeling, while outfitter BMC (in cooperation with SCOR Bike and intercycle) ensured a smooth ride.

With this campaign, as ST ambassador for the German market, Beatrice Egli once again managed to get her fans excited about the topic of women in outdoor sports, as shown by the many comments on her social media posts on Instagram and TikTok. The 100% Women campaign also met with great interest on Swiss television: The programme “Gesichter & Geschichten” reported on Egli’s first mountain bike challenge on a flow trail. The marketing measures generated 3.3 million top marketing contacts.

100% Women Gravel Challenge, Women in Business and more
Showing strong women in outdoor sports and encouraging others to join in: With this goal in mind, ST launched the 100% Women initiative in 2021. In addition to the celebrity challenge with Beatrice Egli, this was also achieved with the “Women in Business” event, in which nine female executives answered ST’s invitation and attempted their first flow trail.

The third major event of the 2023 campaign picked up on the current gravel bike trend: A team of (former) professional cyclists travelled through Switzerland on their gravel bikes (special bikes with retractable handlebars). The challenge: to complete the 420-kilometre route from Rorschach, St.Gallen, to Montreux, Vaud, in four days instead of the usual two weeks, overcoming a difference in altitude of 10,000 metres along the way. The successful team consisted of:

  • Linda Farczadi (specialist in ultracycling)
  • Emma Pooley (multiple medallist in road cycling)
  • Anita Gehrig and Caro Gehrig (twins and winners of several Enduro World Series)
  • Daniela Michel (Enduro racer and mountain bike guide)
  • Monika Sattler (two-time record holder in road cycling)
  • Andrea Sauser (mountain bike cross country specialist)
  • Nathalie Schneitter (first E-MTB world champion)
  • Isabel Tambach (former junior road cycling champion) 

The participants were accompanied on individual sections by Meike Maurer, triathlon specialist and editor-in-chief of “tritime” magazine, as well as Bernese ski racer Joana Hählen. The team overcame the challenge with flying colours. At the finish line in Montreux, Corinne Genoud, Head of Markets West and a member of ST’s Executive Board, told French-speaking Swiss television that she was delighted with the performance: “The 100% Women Gravel Challenge is a symbol of courage, self-discipline and female solidarity.” As part of ST’s 100% Women initiative, the event also marked the start of the new cycling season.

The media paid a lot of attention to the 100% Women campaign in 2023. Worldwide, 227 media reports appeared, with around 59 million media contacts. There were 18 participants, from 15 countries, who took part in the international media trip on the topic. What’s more, there were almost 130,000 page views on MySwitzerland.com/women.

This is the 100% Women initiative
With the 100% Women initiative, ST wants to give women in mountain and outdoor sports more visibility, network them more closely with one another and offer them new experiences with tourism offers and campaigns by women for women.
In 2023, ST set the focus of 100% Women on promoting cycling for women. To this end, a website was launched with around 50 cycling offers for female guests in Switzerland. Past campaigns included the Peak Challenge 2021, in which a women’s rope team climbed 48 Swiss four-thousand-metre peaks, and the Peak Challenge 2022, when a rope team made up of 80 women scaled the summit of the Breithorn. Both achievements have given women’s mountain sports and Swiss tourism in this area international recognition.
 
Facts and figures
Total Summer
   2023 2022
Budget* CHF million 46.5 47.3
Share of total budget % 48.7 49.5
Target markets   Global Global
Top advertising and marketing contacts billion 2.1 1.4
Top media contacts (readers, viewers, listeners) billion 2.6 3.1
Participants in ST press trips   328 323
Top media articles influenced   1,542 2,152
Views of summer clip on YouTube million 82 141.6 
*Including recovery funds 
 **Only views of pages with specific summer campaign content are counted.