22nd St. Galler Touristikertag of 11 February 2011
Already to 22 Times took place last Friday in the Holiday Fair St. Gallen in the halls of the Olma Messen St. Gallen Touristikertag. A rendezvous with VIPs from the boardrooms of the Swiss tourism operators and key suppliers in the industry.
After a welcome by the organizer Rolf Brun of the Olma trade fair and conference moderator Beat Eichenberger of the journal
"travel manager" The event was officially opened with the keynote presentation by Peter Mueller, the director of the Office Civil Aviation (FOCA). In his paper titled
"aviation: a blessing or a concern for tourism? "illuminated he importance of air transport in Switzerland, shows the trend of recent years and the forecasts for the near and medium future. Current studies are assuming that the air traffic at the airport Zurich will join by 2020 its capacity limits.
discussed in the subsequent Arena Round about "
future strategy between business and politics" under the direction of Urs Hirt (Travel Inside) then Stefan Conrad (COO Airport Zurich), Thomas Frischknecht (CEO Belair Airlines), Karl Kistler ( Director Edelweiss Air), Peter
Müller (Director FOCA), Jürg Rämi (€ Airport Director) about the impact of the ban on night flights for airports and airlines, capacity constraints, the SWISS-relocation threats by Harry Hohmeister and the current hot dossiers on air services: the common European air traffic control - the German approach regime and the expansion plans for the airport Zurich. The question whether the expense of the federal government to receive future of the cantons and communities more influence on the development of the airport to Zurich, went unanswered in the space available, but the policy will definitely deal in the coming months. Whether you already take place again talks between Germany and Switzerland, wanted Peter Mueller confirm or deny yet. And especially not if all if a solution emerge. In forecasts for the future, it was agreed in the round that the models are on the table and now the policy is required.
invited
After a short changeover on stage Linda Panchyrz (travel manager) to talk with the title
"agency theory to the test" . André Lüthi (Chief Education and Training SRV) discussed this with Stefanie Rieger (Head of Human Resources, Kuoni Travel Holding) and Rainer leg (COO TUI Suisse) over the past KV-reform and the planned renovation of the course for travel agency trainees and the difficulties well-trained keeping young people in the industry. Stefanie Rieger noted that the requirements Kuoni covered by the training in either the current or future form, there being Kuoni have not been consulted in the drafting. This will happen in the next round but still promised Beat Knecht (SRV) and André Lüthi pointed out that it would certainly give more play and freedom for adjustments. Occasion for reflection, the fact that while it is easily possible to find interested parties for the training courses and to fill them but leaves a disproportionately large part of the industry in the first years after the training again. Instead of addressing this problem and thus to lead, inter alia, the wage debate, one searches in accordance the present rather in alternative industries (eg retail) for motivated career changers. And that should then be extroverted, technology-savvy and have a good network. should in addition to the above points of advice and expertise destination again be much more in demand - I believe enough in the Internet era smile nice and friendly the door stop definitely not more. But the industry is willing to pay for it?
not in the program and therefore safe for the majority of those present as a surprise was the short notice of the ceremony retiring for health reasons SRV President Hansjörg Leuzinger. In a brief eulogy André Lüthi thanked on behalf of the SRV-colleagues but also the entire industry for the services provided and the great efforts over the past 10 years.
The following pause was used by the 300 attendees to deepen the themes of the first part again, or simply to maintain the network and renew old acquaintances and make new ones. For the brain-travel partner, Michele Aggiato, it was said at that time to focus, good breath and recap the issues and arguments for the discussion in the afternoon again. was initiated
the second Part of the event (VR Online Travel) and statements by Andreas Dietrich, entitled
"slept through the travel industry developments in the Internet?" The question that would have been the industry 5 years ago to make, Andreas Dietrich answered with a clear Yes. He even went a step further and banned anything provocative like the tour operator and retailer in common than acute danger, for his death bed. His statements underscored the IT expert with not quite current visitor numbers on the sides of the big online travel agencies and traditional providers and other findings on Internet use around the Reservation.
"How social media and smartphones, the travel industry change" then was the topic in the following Arena Discussion with Michele Aggiato (Partner Travel Brain and Country Manager Zoover Italia), Andreas Dietrich (Board of Online Travel), Benno Iten (CIO Kuoni Travel Holding), Martin Rechsteiner (director Müllener tourism Herisau) and Roland Zeller (Managing Director Travel Window). Chairs the group of Chris Probst (Inside Travel) was. Equal been kicked off with a bang Michele, by asking the question whether Andreas Dietrich as an IT professional is the right choice for a presentation on the changes on the internet is. It go at the latest developments at People and their networks and not about hardware and bandwidth. was in the 30 minutes from the
topics covered in course, only some are striped. Nevertheless, a lively discussion developed around Facebook, Twitter and Roland Zeller looks after several fruitless attempts at walking with Twitter, the future of the industry, especially in the use of Facebook. Whether or not the user-generated content from providers such as
travelfeedback.ch or
Zoover ,
Directory and
TripAdvisor be involved will continue to be seen. When asked about Facebook, Twitter accounts and Four Square in the audience though few hands went up, but it was still to see clearly that the leadership of the Swiss tourism industry has still not really sunk intensively on the topic. A backlog of catch may be difficult. Asked about the experience
My-Agentur.ch " and their social media activities was Benno Iten Kuoni quite satisfied with what has been achieved. The fact that these activities more and more restricted to the active promotion of special offers, he has probably aware, discreetly :-). Kuoni this is present in the meantime, on Twitter and attempts also quite good with customers and partners. A little unsure in which direction to go with Müllener tourism on the Internet, showed , Martin Rechsteiner. In preparation for the discussion but he had risen ever a Facebook account. Whether the traditional offline and online so suddenly become the preferred partner for its customers, we will be able to pursue in the coming months. Finally, Roland Zeller said then that it would be in the future probably not purely online or offline player. Sun
agiere travel.ch today more with print advertising and call center and the traditional TOs your activities on the Web increased dramatically. Grow together so that belong together.
Hans Lerch - Where does the Hotelplan travel? " asked when the last item on the program and highlight of the event Eichenberger beat the industry titans Hans Lerch on the "hot seat" take a seat. Entertaining led Beat Eichenberger Hoteplan the current Group CEO of Kuoni and its stations at SR Technics and took it out one or the other highlight. Usual smug and glib Lerch was to answer questions and repeatedly tried to bring Eichenberger of the concept. Dig at his former employer, Kuoni and ex-colleagues could not be missed. Of course, then the current station was at the Hotelplan Group is not too short. On the question of what is expected of the Migros Hotelplan, Lerch said that in contrast to other models, not the profit-maximization in the foreground. Migros but would lose with hotel plan in any case no money. Modest claims of the giant oranges from the travel subsidiary :-). If and when Thomi Stirling will succeed him, Lerch wanted to answer rather not. Very long he himself would hold the office but no more. Since we're excited about the upcoming trends in hotel plan. There
More photos of St. Gallen Touristikertag it
here.
an excellent platform for "networking" and provided for interesting discussions of then offered drinks and the presentation of the award for the "Travel Personality of the Manager Year ". Awarded this year the price was the third attempt Werner Twersky. Congratulations on travel brain team. Of course there is this even a few photos . And then has a portion of those present (including the hacks) or direction Seeger lounge for sensibly the same evening held IAWA (insider After Work Refreshments served) moved. Find out more and, and the first images are from the event on the pages of
Travel Inside .
Here We would like to thank the organizers of the SGTT for the invitation to participate in the discussion. We are convinced the issues that we expect far many of which will be further discussed intensively in the social media. Our blog is open to all for comments or guest articles are available.
Adrian, Matt and Michele Aggiato TravelMate brain
Photos: Adrian, Matt and Travel Inside / travel manager
