e-tourism in switzerland: the academic perspective and swiss day closing

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

http://www.ifitt.org/


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



Andreas Liebrich (HSLU)

Emanuele Patelli (Foutur.net)

Roland Schegg (HES-SO Valais)

Feedback Workshops Experience Exchange



Miriam Scaglione


Swiss Tourism and ICT – where do we come from?



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



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, DavosSource: http://www.hebdo.ch

Hôtel Badrutt’s Palace, St-Moritz, 1932Source:http://www.hebdo.ch

• 1893: Association of Swiss Tourist Offices foounded

• 1910: Swiss National Tourist Office created



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, 1960Source: http://www.hebdo.ch

Gstaad in the early 50’sSource: http://www.bilan.ch



Evolution of Swiss tourism hotels' overnight demand yearly since 1950

Theoretical Potential level Raw data of total overnights

1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 201010000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

45000

50000

Theoretical Potential level Raw data of total overnights

Rate of growth (%)

1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010-1

0

1

2

3

4

5

Rate of growth (%)

Level shift ’78 (-16%)

dev. of ski resorts/facilitiesincrease

overnights’ stagnation

overnights' downturn

Recovery2003

overnights’ around 35

millions.

2014?in 0

00’



Evolution of Swiss tourism demand monthly since 1950

LDomestic Level+Reg+Intv

1960 1980 2000

500

1000

1500

2000LDomestic Level+Reg+Intv LForeign Level+Reg+Intv

1960 1980 2000

1000

2000

3000

4000LForeign Level+Reg+Intv

LDomestic-Seasonal

1960 1980 2000

1.0

1.5

2.0LDomestic-Seasonal LForeign-Seasonal

1960 1980 2000

1

2

3 LForeign-Seasonal

LDomestic-Cycle 1

1960 1980 2000

0.98

1.00

1.02LDomestic-Cycle 1 LForeign-Cycle 1

1960 1980 2000

0.99

1.00

1.01LForeign-Cycle 1

LDomestic-Irregular

1960 1980 2000

0.95

1.00

1.05LDomestic-Irregular LForeign-Irregular

1960 1980 2000

0.95

1.00

1.05

1.10LForeign-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



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 ShiftApril ’78-30% Level Shift

Oct’7910%

Level ShiftSep’01-10%

Recession Post Korea war and Algeria War


Crisis energy and Iran revolution

World Trade Center Attack

Domestic

Foreign



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


1975 1975 1975

1975 1975 1975

1975 1975 1975

1975 1975 1975

1975 1975 1975

1975 1975 1975



Tourism in SwitzerlandFacts 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



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)



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?



Roland Schegg


The Blurring Landsape of Travel Distribution



• The OTAs and other global players will continue to grow and become stronger



• The pace of innovation will continue to be high and we are heading towards a more complex world



• Tourism suppliers still have a chance in the battle, but have to work on their (e)Fitness



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).



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.



Distribution Trends in the Swiss Hotel Sector 2002-2013

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)

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

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 !



• “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



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.



Cooperation - Diversification: booking.com & Interhome (2013)

Source: http://skift.com/2012/12/28/booking-com-is-homeaways-new-vacation-rental-competitor/



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/



• “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



Challenges to come

Accor 2014: “Leading Digital Hospitality”



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



• 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



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



Discussion & Open Questions


e-tourism in switzerland: the academic perspective and swiss day closing

Education

swiss day closing

swiss day source images

swiss national tourist

switzerlandswiss tourism

valaismiriam scaglione

netroland schegg hes

university of applied

traditional sector iii50s