The tourism industry in the Alpine region would do well to integrate the issue of health into all considerations for its future. This was the conclusion of the 4th “Health & Tourism” conference in Pontresina. 150 trade visitors from five countries and 13 Swiss cantons spent a day discussing health tourism in the Alpine region.
“In everything you do in tourism, you have to consider the level of health,” said tourism expert Professor Thomas Bieger on behalf of the experts at the conference. Companies and destinations must differentiate themselves from one another and bring clearly positioned offers to the market, the Rector of the University of St. Gallen emphasized in front of around 150 listeners.
Bündner Health Director, Councillor Christian Rathgeb, is convinced that lighthouse projects are particularly important in promoting health tourism in the Alps. However, Graubünden should not lean back.
“Our investors have the choice between different locations and the surrounding countries and cantons are not asleep,” he warned to opponents against major projects.
Think more generously and break borders
Investor Christian Wenger, President of the AEVIS Victoria Group, which is active in the hotel and healthcare sector, also complained about a lack of legal certainty due to appeals and lengthy proceedings. The reluctance of locations and populations could have a deterrent effect on investors. In a flaming appeal, he called on mountain regions to think more generously and to break conventional borders.
Instead of focusing on an aging society, they should do more to address young target groups. There has been a change in values among younger consumers in particular, said Philipp Gunzinger, chairman of the Grisons Health Tourism Steering Group. “Younger guests are becoming more and more aware of the importance of their health.” In order to be successful in health tourism, the canton of Grisons must use a spirit of partnership.
“But personal initiative is the most important factor,” said Gunzinger. The change in values towards health orientation and changing living conditions ran like a red ribbon through the speeches made by the speakers. The trend towards urbanization offers particular opportunities, underlined tourism developer Bernhard Lehofer from the ITG Innovation Service for Salzburg. More and more people suffered from a lack of natural environment. “Where we see blue skies and lots of green in the Alps, they only ever see gray.” The market potential in fast-growing cities is correspondingly high.
Hospitals are dismantling and opening up opportunities for tourism
Using clinics spanning several decades, architect Magnus Nickl showed how the construction of healthcare facilities has developed. Hospitals would increasingly refrain from using large ward wards because it would hardly be possible to earn any more money, he said. Since patients still wanted to be cared for after procedures, new health tourism service providers could be created in addition to hospitals.
One important topic of the well-attended conference was digitization, which is also finding its way into health tourism.
The Lower Engadine region is currently developing a health platform on which guests can be registered before the holidays, trained locally by vital coaches and continue to provide support after the holidays. The Lower Engadine health region hopes the project will improve guest service and retention in the future.
Employee success factor
At the end of the conference, as always, two successful hosts presented their companies: Christian Lienhard from Hof Weissbad in Appenzell underlined the long-term orientation and integration of employees into all his management decisions. Three quarters of his employees came from the surrounding region and many of them remained loyal to the company for a very long time.
Michael Gehring from the Alpina Mountain Resort in Tschiertschen, Graubünden, called on his colleagues to become more involved in health-oriented offerings. Grisons and the Alpine region offer the very best basic conditions for being successful in health tourism.
Health & Tourism Conference
The “Health & Tourism” conference is a private initiative for the Alpine region. It is aimed at service providers from tourism, healthcare and industry as well as decision makers from politics and associations and aims to highlight opportunities and market opportunities for health tourism development in the Alpine region. The first event was held in 2015, and since then the conference has been growing year by year.
visuals
Photos of the conference can be downloaded for free on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/gartmannbiz/albums/72157678585392153