Holidays and leisure in the mountains will also be possible in summer 2021 under protection concepts. The “Corona II Engadin” task force has described seven factors that will determine tourism in the coming summer.
For the second time, she has also developed scenarios that help tourism businesses prepare for the coming season under the pandemic.
The warm season, the vaccination of more and more people and the canton's targeted testing strategy will probably help to mitigate the pandemic in Grisons next summer. This is the conclusion reached by the “Corona II Engadin” task force. She has described seven factors that will determine the tourist summer in the Alps:
- the development of the pandemic in Switzerland
- the international development of the pandemic
- Virus mutations, effectiveness of existing vaccines and development of new vaccines
- Vaccination campaigns in Switzerland and in our core tourism markets
- Mass, company and school tests in Graubünden
- the acceptance of protection concepts, self-discipline and compliance by the population and guests
- the warm season and the opportunity to spend more time outdoors
“Engadin is preparing for a strong summer in 2021. The protection concepts have worked well since last spring. They are being further developed and will be retained, at least in part, until next autumn or winter,” says Jan Steiner, member of the management board of Engadin St. Moritz Tourismus AG and co-head of the task force. “Traveling abroad will probably remain complicated in the coming summer. This will prevent some guests from nearby countries from coming to the region. On the other hand, Swiss guests are also more likely to stay inland and could help the Alpine region have a strong tourist summer, as in the previous two years. Accordingly, we expect good summer business.”
The success of vaccination campaigns in Switzerland and abroad is decisive for the rest of the tourism year, writes the task force in its summer handbook published on Thursday. “Despite some uncertainties about the effectiveness of vaccination against mutant viruses, we are confident that federal measures in catering and at events in early summer can be relaxed and may even be lifted over the course of the rest of the year,” explains Christian Gartmann, initiator and co-head of the task force.
“However, normalization requires rapid vaccination of risk groups and the entire population.”
Scenarios to prepare for the summer season
For summer tourism 2021 in Südbünden, it is crucial that guests in the region continue to feel safe and comfortable. “The consistent and uniform implementation of protection concepts by companies and the pioneering testing strategy of the Canton of Grisons will do very important work to achieve this, as was the case this past winter,” summarizes Jan Steiner.
Based on experience since the first wave of 2020 and numerous expert discussions, the leadership of the task force has once again worked out 23 scenarios that describe the possible effects of the pandemic in the next eight months.
The scenarios are intended to help companies prepare for possible developments, train their managers and sensitize their employees to the ongoing pandemic. They were presented on Thursday and can be downloaded from the Engadin St. Moritz destination website.
The Corona II Engadin Task Force
The most important sectors of Upper Engadin tourism, healthcare and the destination organization Engadin St. Moritz founded the “Corona II Engadin” task force in September 2020. It has set itself the goal of supporting businesses in the Maloja region during the pandemic. At the invitation of the task force, all municipalities in Südbünden have also been meeting since November for a weekly exchange of information about the pandemic and are discussing their measures to do so.
The task force also coordinates its work with cantonal authorities and supported them, for example, with major tests in the region and in dealing with outbreaks in companies. The task force is financially supported by the destination organization and the municipalities of the Maloja region. It is managed by Jan Steiner from the destination organization and Christian Gartmann, who created it.
Download
The handbook “Scenarios for the Covid-19 pandemic in summer 2021” can be downloaded here:
www.engadin.ch/files/pdf/210325_ESTM_scenaria_summer_11.pdf
Head of Taskforce Corona II Engadin
Jan Steiner, Engadin Brand Manager, Engadin St. Moritz Tourism AG
jan.steiner@estm.ch | +41 79 686 91 91
Christian Gartmann, Project Manager Taskforce/Municipalities Coordination
christian@gartmann.biz | +41 79 355 78 78