In various scenarios, Avenir Suisse researcher Daniel Müller-Jentsch outlined possible developments ranging from threatening to promising at the opening of the congress. Prior to this, the CEO of the Rhaetian Railway, Renato Fasciati, showed how heavily the RhB is investing in spacious rolling stock, especially for the summer season, how he, as CEO, sees his journey with his company continuing and that he still sees his place in Graubünden and not in Bern.

In the large plenary discussion in the evening, Renato Fasciati then discussed with Reto Branschi, CEO of Davos Klosters Destinations, Claus Fleischer from Bosch eBike-System and Markus Schröcksnadel from Vereinigte Bergbahnen how the prospects for summer tourism can be realized. There was at least agreement that increased summer tourism could create opportunities for various destinations. The differences became clear when it came to profitability and setting priorities: while the RhB is clearly reacting to the peak in summer, the mountain railway operator Schröcksnadel only sees summer potential in some of the areas it operates. In Davos, on the other hand, measures are already being implemented to counteract the high capacity utilization on certain routes with unbundling measures. Finally, Claus Fleischer, CEO of Bosch eBike Systems, expressed the opinion that e-mountain bikes do not compete with mountain railroads, but on the contrary, increase the range of mountain bikes and thus even contribute to unbundling.

Unbundling as an ongoing topic

Disentanglement was the ongoing topic that also generated the most discussion in the "Coexistence" focus session and continued to attract a great deal of interest. In three blocks, experts used input presentations to discuss the implementation of the "Federal Cycling Decree" following the 2018 cycling initiative, then how coexistence on the trails can be addressed at the project planning stage and finally, together with nature conservation associations, how the interests of nature and mountain bikers should be brought together. For most destination organizations, these issues obviously remain high on the agenda, and the attendance at the session was correspondingly high.

The missing story in tourism

In parallel, top marketing experts held up a mirror to the tourism professionals, namely how other industries practice very targeted, simple and straightforward storytelling, namely Blacksocks founder Samy Liechti or Andreas Widmer as the long-standing CEO of large advertising agencies. The search for the story was also the main topic in the third focus session. German bike tour provider Mathias Marschner urged destinations from the perspective of tour operators in the "travel network" to define themselves not only in terms of standard services such as available trails and hotel beds, but also to provide more material for exciting stories. He was in the same vein as Swiss mountain bike tour operator Christian Keller, who compared bike adventures abroad to offers in Switzerland as rather boring.

Bike hoteliers as innovators

How individual service providers can make a difference in tourism was one of the focal points on the second day of the congress; Janine Bunte, CEO of Swiss Youth Hostels, showed how the parahotel industry has brought dynamism to tourism. The Hotelier of the Year, Kurt Baumgartner, answered the question of possible ways forward as the operator of a high-class hotel group, with investments in e-mountain bike rental, for example. Patrick Dreher from Graubünden Ferien proved that different players can make a contribution with their new "Bunanotg" platform. Andreas Züllig, President of HotellerieSuisse, closed the event with examples from his company, the associated reference to the decreasing length of stay and more spontaneous bookings in summer and winter and finally the fact that it is worth focusing on target groups such as family and e-mountain bikers in summer after all.

Links:
www.ridekongress.ch
www.ridekongress.ch/referenten

Interview with Dr. Markus Schröcksnadel: "The success of a ski resort is not based on summer guests."
Interview with Andreas Boldt: "Cooperation with trail farmers is on the right track"
Interview with Thomy Vetterli on the implementation of the Federal Cycling Decree: "The cantons must now take a stand on mountain biking"