Winter Study Tour 2022

In the course of the 2nd semester, the MCI Tourism Master's students were able to get to know various business models, innovations on the mountain and creative solutions for current trends and challenges in tourism. Expert presentations on topics such as sustainability and digital tourism marketing encouraged critical thinking and illustrated the complexity of the tourism system in practice.

Day 1

The program of the Winter Study Tour began in Laax with a lecture by Christopher Jacobson, lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences Graubünden, who presented an overview of Swiss tourism and a current research project on the topic of personnel planning in tourism. Sustainability Officer at the Weisse Arena Gruppe and founding member of the Greenstyle Foundation, Reto Fry, then talked about the Greenstyle philosophy in Laax, which aims to achieve sustainable development. The students critically questioned some of the statistics, but were impressed by the creative way in which the goals and results are communicated with employees, locals, guests and partners - always under the motto "Keep it fun!"

Day 2

Reto Poltéra, member of the Management, Education & Equipment of the Weisse Arena Group, came to the presentation on the second day in the morning on his skateboard and talked with enthusiasm and passion about the idea of bringing surfing to the mountain. Inspired by his presentation on the history of the Weisse Arena Gruppe and the freestyle lifestyle in Laax, the students could almost feel the waves and could hardly wait to explore the freestyle park on the mountain.

Equipped with skis, snowboards or hiking boots, they then took the gondola up to Crap Sogn Gion, where Alicia Martinez explained the infrastructure on the mountain, details of snow production and the pumping station, and told them about the construction of a new innovative gondola lift - important innovations that the students will also be taking up and analyzing again in their Product Development and Innovation course a few weeks later. After the obligatory group photo on the mountain, some of the group set off on the slopes to experience the infrastructure, lifts and facilities for themselves, while the rest went on a winter hike to Crap Masegn. Contrary to expectations, the sun even made a brief appearance and illuminated the 28 lifts and 224 kilometers of pistes in the Flims-Laax-Falera ski area.

Back in the valley, the Senda dil Dragun, the longest treetop path in the world, was on the agenda. This 1.56-kilometre walkway connects the two districts of Laax Murschetg and Laax Dorf and offers an interactive nature experience at eye level with the trees. Afterwards, the students learned about the "buy to use and let" business model in a presentation by Ralph Treuthardt, manager of the rocksresort and Signina Hotel, and were allowed to take a look inside one of the 206 apartments at the rocksresort.

Day 3

The third and final day of the Winter Study Tour led to Lech am Arlberg, where Hermann Fercher from Lech-Zürs Tourismus GmbH first defined the "new luxury" concept (better quality of life, as well as a focus on more time, knowledge, health and sustainable experiences), and presented the destination's current marketing strategy based on this. During a champagne reception and a guided tour of the Hotel Post, the students finally experienced an atmosphere of homecoming: the Hotel Post has been owned by the Moosbrugger family for 80 years and is therefore characterized by many years of tradition. The crowning glory of the last day of the Winter Study Tour was a visit to the Hospiz Alm wine cellar in St. Christoph with Martin Ebster, Director of the St. Anton am Arlberg Tourist Board, who enthusiastically told the story of Adi Werner's Gothic wine cellar, which dates back to the 14th century. A truly impressive number of large bottles (up to 27 liters!) are stored here underground beneath the famous Hospiz Alm restaurant.

Outlook

In order to remain competitive in the long term, Laax and Lech/Zürs are clearly pursuing very different strategies. The individual topics and challenges will now be worked out again by the students as part of their ePortfolio and concrete recommendations for action will be developed.

We would like to thank our long-standing partners in Switzerland and on the Arlberg for the exciting presentations and the smooth running of the program.

Text: FH-Prof. MMag. Raphaela Stadler