News++++Business News++++ Business News ++++ Business News++++ Business

Period 2
The economy continues to pick up, in accordance with predictions of the research institute. A
significant upturn in demand in nearly all areas is expected. By the end of the year economic growth
of over 3% is considered possible and the expected growth for overseas is even as high as 4.5%.
This good economic climate also affects the populations propensity to consume worldwide. An
increase in demand of approx. 10% is even calculated for the area of sport and leisure activities. It
should also be possible to attain such growth figures in the winter sport destinations, at least during
the winter season.
Industry Information from the Institute of Tourism and Economics (ITE)
The cyclical upturn in the economy is also noticeable in the seminar and incentive travel segment,
which is expected to increase significantly. Those businesses wanting to address customers in this
area should however be aware that quality consciousness is now strongly pronounced. Without
adequate investment and appropriate service levels, it will be difficult to gain a foothold in this
submarket.
In the past few years, the Ministry of Culture in Germany has made efforts to balance out the dates of
vacations so that the sports holidays are better distributed throughout the individual German states.
This can lengthen peak season somewhat. Furthermore, Swiss Tourism has increased its measures
for the advertising of tourists from Germany and the Benelux Countries. As for the new advertising
campaign, things are still unclear at this point. The advertisers did, however, agree that the campaign
was represented quite well in Switzerland.
The hotel industry has a considerable investment backlog. The Swiss Society for Hotel Loans (SGH)
recommends investing about 3 billion CHF in existing hotels. The guests are also clearly aware of the
investment backlog. Many buildings have old furniture and carpet, and the facades and plumbing
systems need to be renovated as well. If hotels do not invest in a phase of economic boom, then
when are they going to invest?, asked the SGH director rhetorically.
The cable car companies are in a similar state. Most of them in Switzerland are not profitable.
Customers only go there on nice days and if they dont have to wait so long in line. Those companies
with old facilities usually cannot satisfy the demand in peak periods.
News from Alpenort (Local Press Review)
The Political Community must decide on the future of Martinus Bath. Altogether there are three
alternatives to choose from. These range from the conversion into a wellness centre or family
bathing, to total demolition. A fourth option is to simply leave everything the way it is.
Last year the Canton Council decided to take out a loan for a new regional wastewater treatment
plant. Indeed the plant is a good 500 meters away from the nearest houses, but whenever westerly
winds blow, the valley ends up with a nasty smell. This has slightly impaired the image of the area, as
you can see in the student report from the ITE. The new plant will be built in the same place, but the
odour will be constrained.

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TOPSIM Destination Management

A new reservation system has been introduced to the Destination Management Organization. It is
quite possible that this will lead to an increase in bookings over the Internet. An increase in efficiency
is expected. Sceptics argue that while there is an improvement in efficiency, the booking per
customer will become more costly. 15 years ago a customer wrote a letter and waited five days for a
reply. The same customer today writes a number of emails to several destinations or hotels and
expects to receive a response within a few hours. Despite the new booking platform, we continue to
be overloaded with emails. There is still too little trust that confidential data such as credit card
numbers can safely be sent over the Internet, according to the tourism director of a neighbouring
village.

Overview of the most important changes in the baseline data (benchmarks)

Indicator

Current Period

Previous

Market Growth

+10%

+5%

Share of Seminar and

Incentive Guests

Increasing

Stable

Share of Tourists Overseas

Increasing

Strong Increase

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