Grażyna Grot-Duziak: Swisstainable , It’s a very catchy and clever play on words. How would you define what is meant by Swisstainable?
Simon Bosshart: From the very start, it was clear, that if we talk about sustainability in the Swiss tourism industry, we need a specific name for it, one, that no one take away from us. And “Swisstainable” says it all: Sustainable Travel made in and made of Switzerland.
The concept is very simple and starts from the idea, that if every supplier along the service chain starts to produce more sustainable, the tourism product becomes automatically more sustainable for the guest. So the core element of Swisstainable is a tourism industry partner program, inviting all suppliers along the service chain to commit and engage to the highest possible level of sustainable production. Towards the global markets, on the other side, we use Swisstainable as a marketing carrier, to transport the message, and to simplify our guests search for sustainable services and experiences in Switzerland. Swisstainable is a global initiative, which we carry throughout our entire network of 23 markets, and integrates the entire service chain from arrival in to departure from Switzerland.
I have a feeling that Switzerland Tourism has started this idea many, many years ago is it true?
Well, somehow Switzerland has laid the base for sustainable tourism over a hundred years ago, by developing what probably is today the world’s densest and most interconnected public transportation system. But joke aside: the idea to substantially focus on sustainable travel has been turning in our heads for many years. “Swisstainable” as a concrete concept and action plan came into live in 2020, and we went live in Spring 2022, when we launched the partner program towards the Swiss tourism industry. And since then, we’re developing it further, inside Switzerland and towards all global markets.
What ideas do you have for making individual and group travel sustainable?
On the level of the single supplier – that can be a hotel, a restaurant, a mountain railway, museum, ski school, etc. – it is up to the supplier to define his concrete fields of action: reduce food waste, build on solar energy, source locally, etc. When it comes to bundling various services into individual or group travel packages, we accompany and consult the travel industry to increase their share of “swisstainable” service throughout Switzerland. And with some first success stories already. In Summer 2023, we had some first global tour operators, who reassembled parts of their products to become fully “swisstainable”.
Customers still worry whether these ideas are more expensive than traditional forms of travel
This is a very common view on sustainability in general, but this should still be proven by evidence. For our Swisstainable program, we have not yet been able to collect acurate data on this. But I have at least one hypothesis, and one actual concrete case to assume, that this is not necessarily the case: at the end, travelling in a sustainable way means essentially to increase efficiency and to reduce waste, and this should not lead to higher costs. And that’s what a travel industry partner experienced, with whom we are developing his “swisstainable” products: one measure was to shift the entire transportation on the train, including luggage transportation, while in the past, even for train excursions, they’ve been using a separate luggage car. So by this measure, the tour operator was able to even slightly reduce his costs.
I know that over 2.000 service providers have signed up and contribute to this programme, how did you manage to do so ? Are there still many interested?
We are currently already at over 2’500 suppliers, who have signed up for the “swisstainable” partner program, and we are onboarding new ones on a weekly base. After two years of intense promotion and cooperation with our tourism industry stakeholders, there is a broad consensus concerning the necessity of sustainable travel, so the onboarding comes quite naturally. Nevertheless, and as any change of business processes or even infrastructures leads to additional costs at least on the short term, the decision. To join the program is not taken light-hearted. But that’s absolutely ok, as it is more important, that the shift towards more sustainable travel is progressing step by step, than just reaching quick jumps without a proper work out.
What initiatives are being taken by regions and tourist destinations?
While the base unit of our partner program is the single supplier, we have expanded the program last year as well to the level of destinations and regional tourism boards. And that’s an important multiplier, as once the regions and destinations are onboarded, they will naturally accompany and support the suppliers within their ecosystem. Switzerland Tourism as the national tourism board of Switzerland has successfully concluded it’s “Swisstainable” accreditation on the highest level “Leading”, which means, that all our business processes worldwide have been analysed, and are now continuously amended to become more and more sustainable.
What ideas do you have for making individual and group travel sustainable?
On the level of the single supplier – that can be a hotel, a restaurant, a mountain railway, museum, ski school, etc. – it is up to the supplier to define his concrete fields of action: reduce food waste, build on solar energy, source locally, etc. When it comes to bundling various services into individual or group travel packages, we accompany and consult the travel industry to increase their share of “swisstainable” service throughout Switzerland. And with some first success stories already. In Summer 2023, we had some first global tour operators, who reassembled parts of their products to become fully “swisstainable”: The Travel Corporation, a globally acting player selling strongly in the America and Australia, holding tour group brands such as Trafalgar, Insight Vacations, or Contiki Travel, already works on over 50% with Swisstainable suppliers, and has started to systematically “refurbish” existing Mono-Switzerland tours to become 100% “Swisstainable”. And Kuoni Tumlare, a very strong group tour DMC in Asia Pacific, has an inventory of already over 40% Swisstainable suppliers, and has started to proactively push new products, for example an itinerary including road biking. And we are in preparation with an important OTA to increase their Swisstainable inventory, and to make its customers aware of the more sustainable travel choice for Switzerland.
Thank you so much for this interesting and inspiring insights!
Grażyna Grot-Duziak
MICE Expert, Senior Advisor to the BOD , Site Poland
Simon Bosshart
Simon Bosshart has been Head of Markets East and a member of the Management Board at Switzerland Tourism since January 2022 and is responsible for 13 markets, including Poland. He previously worked for Switzerland Tourism, from 2006 to 2013 and from 2015 to 2021 as Market Manager China and between 2011 and 2021 as Market Group Manager Asia Pacific. As Director Global Accounts, he also spent several years building up the network of global travel companies.
