Zermatt, which celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Matterhorn’s first ascent this summer, hosts the 2015 Switzerland Travel Mart (STM). Right before the opening of the event, Switzerland Tourism revealed the winners of this year’s Gold Flower Award in North America: Alpenwild, Travel Bound and Tours Altitude.
The coveted award is given out every two years at the STM and rewards innovation, a high level of professionalism and outstanding cooperation in connection with the operators' Switzerland products. “Visits from the U.S. and Canada to Switzerland have been increasing for over five years in a row, with a 6% plus in overnights from the U.S. for this year alone. The innovation and commitment of our tour operator partners in the market helped make this happen, and we want to reward some of our best partners with this year’s Gold Flower Award”, says Alex Herrmann, Director Americas of Switzerland Tourism.
Alpenwild won the award for their expertise on Switzerland, especially their carefully designed hiking itineraries. The award was presented to CEO Greg Witt. "Greg Witt and his team at Alpenwild were able to pick up new trends and suggestions and translate them into new itineraries very efficiently and effectively, while growing their overnights in Switzerland from year to year. Their expertise and marketing with inspiring videos on Swiss culture and traditions as well as active travel are remarkable“, says Mirko Capodanno, Trade Manager West Coast.
The second Gold Flower Award went to Travel Bound for their integration of the “Grand Tour of Switzerland“, which leads travelers to many of the highlights as well as hidden gems in one trip, and provides deep insights into Switzerland's various cultures, languages and its gastronomy. "Travel Bound offers three fantastic new itineraries along the Grand Tour of Switzerland, which enable individual guests and groups to travel across Switzerland like the locals, allowing them to create their own personalized road trip in our beautiful country“, says Pascal Prinz, Trade Manager East Coast, when he presented the award to Tommy Ryder, Head of Groups at Travel Bound.
Steven Bergin, Sales Director Tours Altitude, received the third Gold Flower Award from Evelyn Lafone, Director Canada/Trade Manager Central U.S. "Tours Altitude is an important partner for Switzerland Tourism in Canada. They have been featuring Swiss ski resorts for many years and are always looking for new innovations and destinations. For example, they added the two resorts of Arosa and Lenzerheide to their portfolio in 2015."
What is the Switzerland Travel Mart?
The Switzerland Travel Mart (STM) takes place every two years in different destinations throughout Switzerland. It is the most important trade show for Switzerland’s travel and tourism products. The STM provides a professional meeting and sales platform for 500 tour operators and travel trade journalists from over 50 countries as well as 350 suppliers, who present them with the entire range of products from Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein.