Successful conference on business promotion

February 2022

In mid-November, the Swiss Association for Location Management SVSM invited to the first SVSM Business Promotion Dialogue. The half-day conference provided specialist knowledge and input for day-to-day work using exciting practical examples. The event marked the start of the new "SVSM Dialogue" series of events.

Due to the corona situation, the first SVSM dialogue for business development did not take place as a hybrid event as planned, but as a purely virtual event. The event conveyed specialist knowledge and networked location managers, business developers, real estate experts, room planners and other interested parties. The speakers presented impressive practical examples from a wide variety of regions – from Montreux to Uri to St. Gallen – and also reported on challenges, organizational issues and experiences in the spirit of best practice. The participants received valuable input for their daily work. Thanks to dedicated question and answer sessions and a panel discussion, professionally moderated by SVSM board member Markus Müller, the professional exchange of experience and networking were not neglected.

Interaction between economy and tourism
Stefan Büeler, Head of the Office for Economic Affairs and Public Transport in the Canton of Uri, demonstrated the approaches to economic development in Uri based on current projects such as tourism development in Andermatt, the Gotthard base tunnel or educational and research institutes. He also discussed which procedures and organizational forms have proven themselves in practice and which challenges need to be mastered in everyday life. Samuel Zuberbühler, head of location promotion for the city of St. Gallen, gave an insight into the "Sankt ohne Senf" campaign, with which the city in eastern Switzerland is marketing itself and residents, homesick St. Gallen and “newcomers” in a target group-oriented way. He impressively demonstrated how closely business, location promotion and tourism are related. This was also confirmed by Bernard Schmid, Managing Director of Promove. Schmid provided a glimpse of the working methods, structure and current issues of an economic development organization in French-speaking Switzerland: The Promove association aims to promote the economy in the Riviera-Lavaux region on the Swiss shore of Lake Geneva and connects authorities, business and tourism. The cooperation between the various areas, some of which are also organizationally linked, is correspondingly close. Schmid showed how this works in practice using the "Dolce Riviera" project, which was launched in 2020 and aims to integrate the entire tourism value chain in the Montreux Riviera destination.

The start of the new series of events was a success: The consistently positive feedback from the participants on the presentations shows that the SVSM is on the right track with the new event format. The next SVSM dialogue is already being planned, this time with a focus on location management. Make a note of the date – more information will follow:
SVSM dialogue location management: Thursday, March 31, 2022, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m

Further information:
Swiss association
for site management SVSM
office
Ricketwilerstrasse 135
8352 Ricketwil (Winterthur)

Telephone 058 255 08 88
www.svsm-standortmanagement.ch

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