ITB Asia News 2020 - Day 1

I EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW I
CREATING
INCENTIVES
FOR DOMESTIC
TRAVEL
Ivan Breiter
Director for Southeast Asia,
Switzerland Tourism
Switzerland
promotes bleisure
at ITB Asia Virtual
Exclusive interview: Ivan Breiter, Director for
Southeast Asia, Switzerland Tourism
While many countries have been “spinning their wheels” during the COVID-19
crisis, Switzerland has been very active in finding ways to keep the travel trade in
business. We asked Ivan Breiter, Director for Southeast Asia, Switzerland Tourism
to tell us more.
In Switzerland, a number of proposals
have been developed to incentivise
Swiss residents to holiday in their own
country. The centrepiece of the support
plan was to give every Swiss resident
a 200-franc voucher to be spent in the
Swiss tourism or hospitality industries.
The vouchers can be used in hotels or
with tour operators, while the money
can also go towards restaurants and
leisure facilities. The total cost of the
voucher scheme is around 1.7bn Swiss
Francs.
Meanwhile, in a bid to kick-start
the city’s tourism industry, Geneva
Tourism has invested significantly into
“Geneva Boxes” giving visitors exciting
city experiences and hotel packages
with up to a 65% saving, up until 31
December 2020.
The Geneva Boxes are divided into
four main themes: the terroir, the art of
living (culture, gastronomy and nature),
international/scientific Geneva and
fine watchmaking.
All boxes include accommodation,
public transport and an activity.
With the restrictive cross border policies, leisure
travel from Asia has been very limited. Our
main focus has therefore been on attracting the
domestic and neighbouring source markets.
The domestic market is the backbone of
the Swiss tourism industry, generating in an
average year almost half of all overnights in
Switzerland. The record growth in the domestic
travel and the ability to secure 70-90% of
customers from Germany, the Benelux and
France during the Summer months, through
intensive campaigning, helped the tourism
industry in the Alpine Region of our country.
The cities on the other side, with the lack of
business, MICE traffic and Asian guests were
hit the hardest.
How have your initiatives been working during
this time?
Initiatives like “Bed and Bureau”, that hops
on the trend of Bleisure travel, having calm
working time in a business hotel and enjoying
some days in a less known city attracted
new segments. Our congress destinations
have shown that it is possible to conduct
physical meetings with efficient safety and
distancing measures in place. Nevertheless,
those initiatives couldn’t compensate for the
significant impact of COVID-19 on our tourism
industry.
What kinds of tourism are you promoting at
ITB Asia Virtual?
Switzerland has always been the place for
high quality tourism and is considered the
eponym of a clean and safe country, with many
attractions that cater to the well-travelled and
sophisticated globetrotter. Itineraries allowing
to discover the beauty of Switzerland, its hidden
treasures, the different seasons, its gastronomy
and its traditions will be the ones that we will
highlight at ITB Asia 2020 Virtual. We are
looking very much forward to welcoming our
dear guests from Asia in Switzerland again
soon
Dragon Ride cable car from
Pilatus Kulm to Fraekmuentegg
Example
CREATE YOUR OWN WATCH
(exclusive collection):
• 1 double room in a 5-star hotel for 1
night for 2 people with breakfast
• Making your own watch with a
master watchmaker – activity for 2
people, making 1 watch, lunch with
the watchmaker included
• Free public transport
(Geneva Transport Card)
• Price for 2 people (approximate):
€894 instead of €2,540 (65% saving)
© Switzerland Scenery
8 ITB ASIA NEWS • WEDNESDAY 21 OCTOBER 2020
www.itb-asia-news.com