Jörg Krebs becomes Head of Growth Markets at Switzerland Tourism

 
Switzerland Tourism (ST) wants to take account of the positive developments in the growth markets of Russia, India and the Gulf States and has appointed Jörg Krebs (pictured left) as the new Director for these and other markets such as the Nordic countries, the Czech Republic and Poland. He will take up the new post at ST headquarters in Zurich on September 1, 2008, as the tourism promotion association announced in a press release. At the same time, Federico Sommaruga (pictured below) will take up the newly created post of Manager Market Development with the task of working more closely with the FDFA and Swiss diplomatic representations. In addition, the potential of the Fifth Switzerland - the Swiss organizations abroad with their 660,000 Swiss abroad - as potential guests will also be addressed.
The two new positions are being created at a time when, according to ST, the huge growth potential of overnight stays in Switzerland should be exploited. Last year, overnight stays in the aforementioned markets recorded growth rates of between 15.1 and 21.8 percent.
The 42-year-old, proven marketing expert Jörg Krebs has been with ST for 20 years and has already worked in Frankfurt, Madrid and Hamburg. In Zurich, he was Head of Marketing and Sponsoring, among other things. Since November 2006, Krebs has been in charge of location marketing for the public sector project organization as part of the European Football Championship.
Federico Sommaruga, 48, was head of ST's strategic growth markets for twelve years. According to Switzerland Tourism, he has great skill as a negotiator. He will continue to oversee the reactive markets of Australia, Brazil, Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa and Thailand and will remain a member of the Marketing Management Team, which Krebs will join in his new position.