Presentation done by Prof. Lorenzo Cantoni, Prof. Miriam Scaglione and Roland Schegg, during "Swiss eTourism Day Workshop - Panel Discussion: eTourism in Switzerland: The Academic Perspective and Swiss Day Closing" of the ENTER2015 eTourism conference

1. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Prof. Lorenzo Cantoni
Scientific Director, webatelier.net & Faculty of Communication Sciences, Università
della Svizzera italiana (USI Lugano
Prof. Miriam Scaglione and Roland Schegg
Institute of Tourism, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland
Valais, Switzerland
E-TOURISM IN SWITZERLAND: THE
ACADEMIC PERSPECTIVE AND SWISS DAY
CLOSING

2. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Agenda
• Feedback Workshops Experience Exchange
• Andreas Liebrich (HSLU)
• Emanuele Patelli (Foutur.net)
• Roland Schegg (HES-SO Valais)
• Miriam Scaglione: Swiss Tourism and ICT – where we come
from
• Roland Schegg: The Blurring Landsape of Travel Distribution
• Lorenzo Cantoni: Travel 3.0 – Needs for new Skills and
Competencies
• Final discussion

3. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Andreas Liebrich (HSLU)
Emanuele Patelli (Foutur.net)
Roland Schegg (HES-SO Valais)
Feedback Workshops Experience
Exchange

4. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Miriam Scaglione
Institute of Tourism, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland
Valais, Switzerland
Swiss Tourism and ICT – where do we
come from?

5. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Evolution of a traditional sector I
19th century : Belle époque
• Rhaetian Railway
• Gornergrat
• Jungfraujoch
Hôtel d’Angleterre, Montreux, 1873
Inaugural train of the Rhaetian Railway, Klosters, 1889
Tourists admiring the Alpenglow, Eiger, Mönch & Jungfrau

6. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
First ski-lift “funiluge” pulled by a cable, Crans Montana, 1930
Evolution of a traditional sector II
First ski-lift built in Switzerland in 1934, Davos
Source: http://www.hebdo.ch
Hôtel Badrutt’s Palace, St-Moritz, 1932
Source:http://www.hebdo.ch
• 1893: Association of Swiss Tourist Offices
foounded
• 1910: Swiss National Tourist Office created

7. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Evolution of a traditional
sector III
50’s : Switzerland and its news ski resorts are on the top 5
destination worldwide
70’s: Stagnation
80’s : still among the top ten destination worldwide
First half of the 90’s: recession
First cable car with only one cable in Switzerland, Crans Montana, 1951
Verbier, 1960
Source: http://www.hebdo.ch
Gstaad in the early 50’s
Source: http://www.bilan.ch

8. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Evolution of Swiss tourism hotels'
overnight demand yearly since 1950
Level shift
’78 (-16%)
dev. of ski resorts/facilities
increase
overnights’
stagnation
overnights'
downturn
Recovery
2003
overnights’
around 35
millions.
2014?
in000’

9. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Evolution of Swiss tourism demand
monthly since 1950
LDomestic Level+Reg+Intv
1960 1980 2000
500
1000
1500
2000 LDomestic Level+Reg+Intv LForeign Level+Reg+Intv
1960 1980 2000
1000
2000
3000
4000 LForeign Level+Reg+Intv
LDomestic-Seasonal
1960 1980 2000
1.0
1.5
2.0 LDomestic-Seasonal LForeign-Seasonal
1960 1980 2000
1
2
3
LForeign-Seasonal
LDomestic-Cycle 1
1960 1980 2000
0.98
1.00
1.02 LDomestic-Cycle 1 LForeign-Cycle 1
1960 1980 2000
0.99
1.00
1.01 LForeign-Cycle 1
LDomestic-Irregular
1960 1980 2000
0.95
1.00
1.05 LDomestic-Irregular LForeign-Irregular
1960 1980 2000
0.95
1.00
1.05
1.10 LForeign-Irregular
Domestic (‘000) Foreign (‘000)
raw
data &
trend
raw
data &
trend
seasonal
Cycle 6
months
residuals
raw
data &
trend
raw
data &
trend
seasonal
Cycle 6
months
residuals
Source : data OFS analysis Prof Dr Miriam Scaglione ITO/HES-SO using Structural
times series

10. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Domestic-Level + Intv Foreign-Level + Intv
1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
Domestic-Level + Intv Foreign-Level + Intv
Long run evolution (trend) of Swiss
tourism demand monthly since 1950
Level Shift
April ’78
-30% Level Shift
Oct’79
10%
Level Shift
Sep’01
-10%
Recession Post
Korea war and
Algeria War
Source : data OFS analysis Prof Dr Miriam Scaglione ITO/HES-SO
using Structural times series
Crisis energy
and Iran
revolution
World Trade
Center Attack
Domestic
Foreign

11. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Evolution of Swiss tourism
demand monthly since 1950
Seasonal evolution Foreign-Domestic
1950 2000
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
0.0
Feb
1950 2000
-0.1
0.0
0.1
Mars
1950 2000
-0.25
0.00
0.25
1950 2000
-0.2
-0.1
0.0
Jan
Avril
1950 2000
-0.15
-0.10
-0.05
0.00
May
1950 2000
0.2
0.3
0.4
Jun
1950 2000
0.4
0.6
0.8
Jul
1950 2000
0.50
0.75
1.00
1.25
Aug
1950 2000
0.2
0.3
0.4
Sep
1950 2000
-0.4
-0.2
Oct
1950 2000
-1.00
-0.75
-0.50
Nov
Nov
1950 2000
-0.4
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
Dec
1950 2000
-0.2
-0.1
0.0
Jan
1950 2000
0.0
0.2
Feb
1950 2000
-0.1
0.0
0.1
0.2
Mar
1950 2000
-0.20
-0.15
-0.10
Apr
1950 2000
-0.20
-0.15
-0.10
May
1950 2000
0.00
0.05
0.10
Jun
1950 2000
0.4
0.6
Jul
1950 2000
0.4
0.6
Aug
1950 2000
0.20
0.25
0.30
Sep
1950 2000
-0.1
0.0
0.1
Oct
1950 2000
-0.55
-0.50
-0.45
Nov
1950 2000
-0.4
-0.3
-0.2
Dec
Foreign Domestic
Source : data OFS analysis Prof Dr Miriam Scaglione ITO/HES-SO using
Structural times series
1975 1975 1975
1975 1975 1975
1975 1975 1975
1975 1975 1975
1975 1975 1975
1975 1975 1975

12. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Tourism in Switzerland
Facts and figures
Switzerland 4th exportation sector : 5.5% (2012)
Revenue from foreign tourists : 15.4 billion CHF (2012)
Accommodation sector: 3.6% of tertiary sector in Switzerland (2013)
1979: Swiss Tourism Concept. First instrument of sustainable tourism
development
1995: launch of MySwitzerland.com
1997: creation of Innotour
myswitzerland.com

13. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Web 2.0 penetration
The following figure represents the evolution of web 2.0 penetration
across sectors and time
Scaglione, Johnson, et al. (2010); Scaglione,
Schegg, et al. (2013) ; Schegg et al. (2008)

14. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
My Questions
• From the early stages, the tourism marketing in Switzerland was
characterized by a dynamic and modern approach.
• Is it still the case?
• How can we face the challenges by accelerating the pace of
innovation (p.ex. by better use of ICT)?
• The development of ICT raises opportunities and challenges
that need to be addressed. How can we leverage these
chances?
• Do small players in tourism still have a chance to survive
without yielding the control of their businesses to third-party
actors like the OTAs?
• How can academy help to improve the situation?

15. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Roland Schegg
Institute of Tourism, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland
Valais, Switzerland
The Blurring Landsape of Travel Distribution

16. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
• The OTAs and other global players will continue to
grow and become stronger

17. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
• The pace of innovation will continue to be high and
we are heading towards a more complex world

18. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
• Tourism suppliers still have a chance in the battle,
but have to work on their (e)Fitness

19. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Travel suppliers in a complex
landscape of distribution
• Online intermediaries such as OTAs play a major role in
the distribution of hotel rooms and other travel products
all over the world.
• The online travel agencies (OTAs) had gross bookings
exceeding $150 billion in 2013, representing 38% of the
global online market and 13% of the global travel
market. (Trefis team, 2015)
• Hotels and tourism supliers in general have
underestimated in the past the importance of an
effective online marketing strategy whereas OTAs have
invested with success in online marketing and
aggressive conversion techniques (Egger & Buhalis,
2008).

20. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Evolution of travel distribution
channels in Switzerland
Scaglione & Schegg (2015) The Case of Switzerland During the Last 20 Years. In
Pechlaner, Harald, Smeral, Egon (Eds.) Tourism and Leisure: Current Issues and
Perspectives of Development, Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden p. 175-201.

21. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Distribution Trends in the Swiss
Hotel Sector 2002-2013
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Traditional distribution (telephone, fax,
letters, walk-ins, others)
Electronic request (e-mail, booking form)
Online booking (GDS, IDS/OTA, direct
booking on hotel website, hotel chains
with CRS, social media)
Tourism partners (tour operators, DMO
national-local, event & conference
organizers, others)
2013 (n=279)
2012 (n=200)
2011 (n=196)
2010 (n=211)
2009 (n=198)
2008 (n=184)
2006 (n=100)
2005 (n=94)
2002 (n=202)
Attention: Market shares in % of bookings for 2002-2012 and in % of
overnights in 2013 !

22. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
• “The mobile channel has successfully overcome all
doubts about its ability to become significant for the travel
industry, reaching an estimated 15% of global online
travel sales in 2014.”
Driving forces of travel distribution in
the next few years
Source: Angelo Rossini 2015

23. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
OTAs and automobile
manufacturers invest in mobile
Source http://skift.com & http://www.thedrum.com
• This kind of partnership is the next step in same-day, mobile hotel
bookings.

24. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Cooperation - Diversification:
booking.com & Interhome (2013)
Source: http://skift.com/2012/12/28/booking-com-is-homeaways-new-vacation-rental-competitor/

25. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
OTAs play the “Meta-Game”:
Expedia-Trivago & Priceline-Kayak
Source: http://skift.com/2013/09/19/after-big-mergers-when-will-priceline-and-expedia-take-the-next-big-steps/

26. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
• “An innovation with disruptive potential in the travel industry
is the one introduced by TripAdvisor through its Instant
Booking tool. This new model will expand TripAdvisor’s
functionalities beyond a travel review website, as TripAdvisor
starts offering services like other established OTAs.
• The rise of new players: Travel is the largest category for
ecommerce globally, and it is not surprising that the two
largest global online retailers, Amazon and Alibaba, have
decided to enter it.”
Blurring competitive landscape
Source: Angelo Rossini 2015

27. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Challenges to come
Accor 2014: “Leading
Digital Hospitality”

28. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Importance of AirBnB in
Switzerland
Over 6’000 objects with over 20’000 beds
-> equivalent to 8% of the hotel bed offer in Switzerland!
http://www.tourobs.ch/media/303683/Airbnb_DE.pdf

29. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
• The high and still increasing market share of OTAs is
therefore a serious threat for the Swiss lodging sector and
tourism sector in general.
 Loose of control on distribution, customer data and
relation (CRM), costs (!)
• Other challengers to come…
• New intermediaries and cooperation outside classical
tourism sector (Amazon, Alibaba, …)
• New kids on the block with personalized and innovative
services which provide seamless travel experience
(AirBnB, Uber etc.)
Challenges for Tourism
Suppliers in Switzerland

30. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Lorenzo Cantoni
Scientific Director, webatelier.net & Faculty of Communication Sciences, Università
della Svizzera italiana (USI Lugano
Travel 3.0 – Needs for new Skills and
Competencies

31. ENTER 2015 Swiss day
Discussion & Open Questions