Where does Lenzerheide see itself as a bike region in five years' time?
We want to be the clear mountain bike hotspot of the Alps. When you think of mountain biking, the "Bike Kingdom Lenzerheide" should come to mind. We want to become the equivalent of Whistler for the Alpine region.

Is that not yet the case?
Not enough yet. In the past, mountain biking was one topic among many, but with "Bike Kingdom" we have now created a world of its own to address it directly. In addition, by cooperating with Chur and Arosa, we have expanded our radius of action to suit the target group. Another important aspect of the "Bike Kingdom" is the extension of the season. With Chur, we can start much earlier and extend into November in the fall.Why didn't you come up with this strategy earlier?
The decisive factor was the World Championships in 2018. That was like a huge highlight and then we had to think about how we could go one better. In many places with world championships, you can see that the air is out afterwards. But we wanted to keep the momentum going and see the mega event as the basis for sustainable development. At the time, we also realized that communication in bike regions is very interchangeable. But you can't achieve a leading position with empty phrases, something completely independent had to be created. When we stood on the Rothorn, looked at the natural backdrop and heard the name "Bike Kingdom" for the first time, I knew that this was it. This is going to be big.

So this "Kingdom" is primarily a marketing strategy?
The "Bike Kingdom" is first and foremost a positioning, a communicative guiding idea. A kingdom is something big, that's an important statement. There are several regions, different cultures, different guest structures. This is also the case in the "Bike Kingdom" with Lenzerheide, Arosa, Chur and the Albula Valley. We want to use the opportunity of diversity and bring it together in one strategy.

But all key players have to play their part in this.
Exactly, we see the idea of the "Bike Kingdom" as a kind of steep pass for the top performers. It offers each individual an enormous opportunity to develop creatively. We can already see that an enormous dynamic is emerging here.

Now the hotels are simply becoming little castles with damsels. Isn't that a bit trivial?
We want to avoid precisely this simplistic association with a traditional kingdom. Although mountain bikers are somehow also knights with their protectors and the bike as a horse, we deliberately want a modern and independent interpretation of a "kingdom". For example, we take the theme of battles and integrate this into the app in a playful way with the assignment to clans, which then conquer digital territories or themes.

Lenzerheide has already been successful, now you're going one better. Aren't you slowly reaching your limits?
There will be peaks with waiting times, it's no different in winter. But we want to show the big picture with "Bike Kingdom" and not just focus on the bike park in Lenzerheide. Trends such as e-mountain biking in particular allow us to think in larger radii and distribute visitors more widely. This is exactly what we want to do with the app and direct the flow of visitors in a targeted manner. With this in mind, capacity limits are far from being reached.

More mountain bikers also means more potential for conflict with other trail users.
Our municipalities recognized this point early on and took measures to reduce conflicts. The first stage has already been implemented and the second will be completed this summer. So something is being done not only for mountain bikers, but also for hikers. The investment volume for this unbundling amounts to 1.8 million francs. Here too, the app will help us to steer mountain bikers away from the conflict zones.

Why is there no "Hike Kingdom"?
The destination has placed an increased focus on bike development in recent years. The topic of unbundling benefits hikers and bikers. From our side, we are also monitoring developments in the hiking sector. However, hiking does not have such a strong community as mountain biking, so you can't simply transfer the Kingdom system to hiking. But we will continue to work on the topic of hiking.