Brand image study: Ascona, the Engadine and Villars at the top
Ascona has the best overall image and leads the ranking of cities. The Engadin is the image leader among the regions, Villars among the Alpine destinations. These are the results of the first-ever study on the perception of Swiss tourist destinations.
The tourism industry is extremely important for Switzerland. With a turnover of almost CHF 48 billion, it accounts for around 7.5 percent of total economic output. The high exchange rate of the Swiss franc in recent years has jeopardized the success of the industry and presented destination managers with numerous challenges. If the price is high, the service must be commensurate. This is the only way to attract and retain guests. The perception or image of a tourist destination plays a decisive role in this.
There are few studies that deal with the perception of tourist destinations. This was reason enough for Assessa and Adwired to examine the brand image of Swiss tourist destinations for the first time based on the five criteria of "reliability", "experience", "open-mindedness", "hospitality" and "quality".
The analysis is based on statements in the media. Statements on predefined brand statements (image factors) were tracked down in the public media (print, online and social media) and placed in the context of the destination brands under investigation by means of statistical analyses. In order to compare and classify the performance of Swiss tourist destinations, four vacation regions from neighboring countries were included in the study.
The results are quite surprising. The city of Ascona has the best overall image across all image factors, followed by Montreux (also a city) and the Engadin region. The first foreign tourism brand, Tirol (A), is only in twelfth place.
Image factors cities
Ascona has the best overall image among the cities, just ahead of Montreux. Interlaken is in third place. Lucerne and Neuchâtel complete the top 5, followed in sixth place by Tyrol (A), the strongest foreign destination brand. In terms of overall image, the largest Swiss cities of Zurich, Geneva and Basel can be found in the second half of the ranking. With Haut-Savoie (F), only one foreign tourism destination is behind these cities in terms of overall image.
Image factors Regions
The Engadin leads the overall image of the regions. It is followed in second and third place by Tyrol (A) and Alto Adige (I), two tourist destinations in neighboring countries. Graubünden ranks fourth, underlining the dominance of vacation destinations from this canton. Haut-Savoie occupies last place on the list.
Image factor of alpine destinations
Villars leads the overall perception of the Alpine regions. Flims Laax, Gstaad and Verbier follow in second to fourth place. Tirol (A) is the first foreign brand to follow in fifth place. Although the canton of Graubünden is successfully ranked in second place with Flims Laax, it is otherwise at the bottom of the ranking, with St. Moritz in 14th place, Arosa in 15th place and Davos in 17th place.
Image factor "hospitality"
The image leader Ascona (city) is perceived as the most hospitable destination, well ahead of the Alpine destination Flims Laax and the Ticino region. The Allgäu (Germany) follows in fourth place as the first foreign tourist region. In fifth place is the city of Bellinzona. The canton of Ticino therefore accounts for three of the top 5 places. The cities of Lugano and Locarno are ranked tenth and twelfth respectively. The canton of Ticino therefore has a strong overall perception in terms of hospitality.
After the Allgäu in fourth place, the other destinations close to the border, Tyrol (A) and Alto Adige (I), are listed in eighth and eleventh place. These three foreign competitor brands are therefore in the top third of all tourism destinations surveyed. Only the French competitor Haute-Savoie can be found in the last third of the ranking.
After Ascona, the other category leaders in terms of hospitality are Villars (alpine destination) in 18th place and the Engadin (region) in 35th place. Their strong overall image is therefore not characterized by an extremely friendly approach to guests.
St. Moritz, Crans Montana and the Bernese Oberland have the most modest perception of hospitality.
Responsible for the study are:
Assessa, a management consultancy specializing in brand analysis and brand capitalization. The focus is on the development and digital implementation of brand controlling solutions. Assessa's client portfolio includes SMEs as well as listed companies. Assessa is a partner of Adwired and in this function provides consulting services for the implementation of the BrandTicker on the client side.
Adwired, a team of media and brand specialists. Adwired develops customized solutions for the reliable monitoring of companies, brands and people. Adwired's TheBrandTicker processes large amounts of data from print, online and social media and provides up-to-date, operationally valuable and highly individualized insights for better decisions in communication and brand management.
