What is going wrong in tourism?
I think that things are not questioned enough in tourism. People used to be more innovative. The ski lift was invented, a revolution. Today, ski lifts are turned into chairlifts and transport capacity is increased. There is also a lack of strong personalities who really pull and who don't care about other opinions: Reto Gurtner has turned Laax into a freestyle mecca. In Savognin, Leo Jeker brought the first snowmaking system to Europe in the 70s. And Marc Schlüssel and Lenzerheide are now making Bike Kingdom. There are many stakeholders in tourism. If you want to please everyone, you won't get anywhere. The good Swiss compromise means that all decisions are made much more slowly, but at the same time our digitalized world is getting faster and faster.

So we need to act more consistently?
Yes, and that starts on a small scale. For example, the opening hours of the mountain railroads in summer are incomprehensible to me. When mountain biking with cable cars, I always feel stressed because they close too early. In Whistler, the lifts are open from 10 am to 8 pm. That's the same number of hours as from 8am to 6pm, but the feeling is totally different. You have time for a relaxed lunch, an afternoon beer or a hearty snack. And that's where you leave the money. In this respect, the mountain railroads need to radically rethink their product.

As an advertiser, you used to have a lot to do with other sectors. What can we in tourism learn from other sectors?
Tourism professionals need to go out more and actively leave their Alpine bubble. In my opinion, tourism decision-makers should visit Zurich several times a year to see what's going on there. Zurich is not the hub of the world, a lot of things are spilling over from Berlin or New York. And why? Because the people of Zurich ride to these cities for inspiration. In Zurich, nobody thinks: those stupid New Yorkers have no idea. But in the mountains, a lot of people think: those stupid Zurich people have no idea. That's kindergarten. The result: digitalization clearly shows that the mountains are lagging behind. In urban Switzerland, I have an app for everything, but in the mountains I need cash. This is due to a lack of understanding for the guest. People expect you to be up to date. But people often close themselves off from it. A little more spillover would take tourism a few steps further.

You are one of the spiritual fathers of "Bike Kingdom". How did that come about? In our young company "Creative Intelligence Society", we have a background in advertising and strategy and have worked for many clients in the tourism industry. I often had the feeling that I was on the wrong side of my job. I am a creative and have done advertising for products that were bad. Our approach is to invest creativity in the product rather than in the advertising afterwards.

And that's when you came up with "Bike Kingdom"?
Due to our personal proximity to the sport, we said to ourselves: We have to completely reinvent mountain bike tourism. And that's exactly what Lenzerheide wanted. And so began the process of developing the "Bike Kingdom" project.

And what's new about it?
An area like Lenzerheide is large and diverse. It ranges from the city of Chur to the bike park and the remote Albula Valley. We are no longer working on the basis of a classic tourist destination, but are pushing the boundaries. Lenzerheide is thus becoming a kingdom for mountain bikers with different lands - that was the initial idea for "Bike Kingdom". As a company, we didn't just want to advertise Lenzerheide, we wanted to help shape the actual product together with the destination.

Presentation at the Ride Congress:

After many years as a creative director in the advertising industry, Simon Smit co-founded the company "Creative Intelligence Society". The development of tourism products is a central business area. He will be speaking at the Ride Congress on October 1, 2020 and will present his views on tourism.

• creativeintelligencesociety.com
• bikekingdom.ch
• kongress.ride.ch