This month we get to know better St.Gallen-Bodensee Tourism
What was your motivation to join ICCA?
With the membership in ICCA we can focus even more on our goal to be among the top 7 congress locations in Switzerland. We would like to concentrate more on association marketing and be active internationally. With the presence on the iccaworld.org site, we can promote the congress location in St.Gallen and our services of the Convention Bureau St.Gallen to the customers, and with the participation in various events, we can establish a global network, which could possibly lead to a success and a realization of a congress in St.Gallen after several years of maintaining contacts.
Our organisation:
The economic region of St.Gallen-Lake Constance is the political, economic, and cultural center of Eastern Switzerland. Cultural and knowledge transfer have always been among the region's core competencies. As a non-profit organization, St.Gallen-Bodensee Tourism contributes to the perception of the city and region as an attractive business, educational and cultural location with a high quality of life. As a tourism destination, St.Gallen-Bodensee Tourism positions itself in the culture and leisure sector, day tourism, and congress sector – handled by the St.Gallen Convention Bureau. In this way, it also contributes to the formation of local and regional identity and enables a higher economic added value.
What is your favorite success story?
The European Colorectal Congress (ECC) is dedicated to annual topics in the contemporary practice of colorectal surgery and welcomes lectures that discuss proven wisdom, updates in the management of complex situations, as well as innovative strategies and other timely topics. We have been privileged to host the ECC Congress at our destination St.Gallen for nearly 10 years. The St.Gallen Convention Bureau supported the organizers in the accommodation handling for over 1’000 participants. With our free services in consulting and supporting the organizers wherever we can, we managed to keep the congress in St.Gallen with our years of loyal cooperation with the PCO.
The St.Gallen Symposium is being organized yearly by an international students committee of the University St.Gallen. Each year, key decision-makers from business, politics, academia, and society attend the symposium to meet and exchange ideas with the next generation of leaders. The students stop their education at the University St.Gallen for 10 months to engage in the implementation of intergenerational dialogue. We support the students in different publicity activities and handle the accommodation management. We are happy to support the students in such a big conference with over 1’000 participants and over 100 speakers.
What is an industry challenge your organisation is facing currently?
Tourism in our region is facing major challenges. On the one hand, the outbreak of the Corona pandemic has directly affected the tourism industry, especially city tourism, but on the other hand, this crisis has made visible where there are fundamental gaps between actual and target in tourism. The view of tourism has changed. It is no longer considered "isolated and primarily economic, but integral and as a part of the entire living space", which should offer "added value to life" to the guest, but also to all inhabitants of our region. This new orientation and further market changes require an even more targeted development of our offer and service quality.