From SVZ to Switzerland Tourism: 100 Years of Tourism Marketing Switzerland
For 100 years, the Swiss government has been helping to market the Swiss tourism industry. Switzerland Tourism is celebrating this anniversary with two exhibitions for the public and an anniversary tour for the industry.
Switzerland Tourism, the marketing organization of Swiss tourism, majority financed by the Swiss government, is a child of the crisis. On November 28, 1917, a year before the end of World War I, the Swiss parliament approved the creation of an organization to coordinate tourism promotion for Switzerland. It was responding to the crisis in the industry that was worsening during the war. This was the birth of the Swiss Tourist Board (SVZ), which became Switzerland Tourism in 1995.
In the beginning, SVZ ran national advertising through SBB agencies in Paris, New York, Berlin, Cairo and Vienna. As a result of the world economic crisis, SVZ joined forces with SBB, PTT and the Federal Office of Transport in 1933 to form an advertising syndicate. In 1941, during the next industry crisis during World War II, SVZ took over the agencies of SBB.
In 1981, the federal government then cut the SVZ's budget. In return, the association of hotels in Switzerland, Hotelleriesuisse, supported the organization for the first time. Finally, in 1995, the name was changed to Switzerland Tourism.
As a marketing organization, the SVZ naturally made history primarily with campaigns. For example, the SVZ made it into the Museum of Modern Art in New York with its 1935 advertising poster for car tourism. In 1943, the organization advertised with the slogan "Das ganze Volk fährt Ski" ("The whole nation is skiing"), which was later followed up by the Eugster trio with their hit "Alles fahrt Schii" ("Everything is skiing").
However, the SVZ also made efforts to enter new markets. In 1999, Switzerland became the first country to open a national tourist office in China. Today, Switzerland Tourism operates 26 representations worldwide.
Switzerland Tourism is celebrating its anniversary with two exhibitions for the general public and an anniversary tour for the industry. For example, an exhibition put together by the Museum für Gestaltung in Zurich entitled "Macht Ferien" (Power Holidays) takes a look at the history of the tourism organization.
In the photo exhibition "Fremdvertraut," the Fotostiftung Schweiz in Winterthur and the Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne are showing a photo portrait of Switzerland by five internationally renowned photographers. The exhibition "Macht Ferien" will be shown first in Zurich, then in Bellinzona and Lucerne. "Fremdvertraut" can be seen at the Fotostiftung Schweiz in Winterthur and from fall 2017 at the Musée d'Elysée in Lausanne. (SDA)
