The desire to travel is in all of us. For people with disabilities and senior citizens, however, the well-deserved vacation involves intensive preparation. In order to enjoy a carefree time as much as possible, information about the accessibility of accommodations or leisure activities is needed even before departure. Many tourism providers in Switzerland have offers that are suitable for some of the people with disabilities and seniors. However, there is often a lack of publicly accessible information. The Accessible Switzerland Association helps the Swiss tourism industry address the travel requirements of senior citizens and people with disabilities appropriately and in such a way as to meet their specific needs. From the moment it was established in 2016, the FVBS has been supported by prominent service providers in the Swiss tourism industry and by disabled people’s associations. The aim of the initiative is that tourism businesses inform about the accessibility of their offers in order to facilitate travel planning for people with disabilities as well as seniors. For this purpose OK:GO provides the necessary system for recording and communication. It is by no means a matter of costly conversions or the need for an existing barrier-free infrastructure. What is new about the OK:GO approach is: All service providers can participate, even those who are "not 100% barrier-free" according to the classic understanding. It is about a commitment to the topic of "inclusion for people with disabilities" and a self-declaration for concrete and relevant information for this target group. The system for this is provided by OK:GO through its partner platform "ginto". Excerpts from the website.

The 4-star superior hotel Valsana in Arosa consistently implements sustainability. It has been Green Globe certified in 2020, making it one of the most sustainable hotels in Switzerland. Green Globe certification is a globally recognized, structured assessment of the sustainability performance of travel and tourism companies and their supply chain partners. As part of the certification process, all areas of the hotel's operations were evaluated and reviewed for the sustainability thinking behind them. This includes, among other things, employee training in the area of sustainability, integration into the local community, but also a purchasing policy that primarily takes local and regional producers into account. Valsana achieved 93 percent of the possible points in the certification process. In addition to the ice storage, the hotel's own beehive, the green roof and the majority of eco-certified and fair-trade products were particularly highlighted.

Excerpts from website: Kitro is a fully automatic food waste management solution for the food and beverage industry. KITRO provides customers with hardware and software that enables them to effortlessly reduce their food waste across the entire outlet. Reducing food costs and wasted resources for the hospitality industry is the goal of Kitro. KITRO seeks to provide a long-term solution that becomes as essential to a kitchen as a dishwasher or an oven, and helps companies track their food waste over time. KITRO delivers high quality Swiss solutions that are efficient and robust. KITRO's goal is to raise awareness and tackle food waste along the entire supply chain. For more information see links below

Excerpts from website Tourism in Switzerland is facing major challenges in dealing with the effects of the Corona pandemic, climate change and the constantly changing needs of guests. With the Innotour project Innovation Generator 2.0, supported by SECO, a broad-based project sponsorship wants to contribute to making the change sustainable. Using co-creation methods, the Innovation Generator 2.0 brings together partners across sectors and offers development spaces for the development of innovative tourism projects. The funded projects should meet all three target dimensions of sustainability in the best possible way: Economy, Environment, Society. The Innovation Generator 2.0 builds on the experiences of the Innovation Generator 2016/18. The method for generating innovative ideas will be optimized, and the project perimeter will be extended from the Alpine region to the whole of Switzerland. The most promising ideas will be further developed and guided towards realization. The project offers the initiators personnel and financial support in the various phases of project development. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) Der Tourismus in der Schweiz steht vor grossen Herausforderungen im Zusammenhang mit den Auswirkungen der Corona-Pandemie, dem Klimawandel und sich ständig wandelnden Bedürfnissen der Gäste. Eine breit aufgestellte Projektträgerschaft möchte mit dem vom SECO unterstützten Innotour-Projekt Innovationsgenerator 2.0 dazu beitragen, dass der Wandel nachhaltig wird.

Excerpt from the website. fairjourney is a non-profit organisation concerned with the social, cultural, economic and ecological impacts of tourism on development. Right from it's inception, it's aim has been to promote the cause of the disadvantaged population in tourist destinations by raising public awareness, by advocating fair trade in tourism in a critical dialogue with the travel industry, and by encouraging travellers to be informed consumers. The travel portal with rules of thumb, practical tips, information and inspiration for fair encounters with people from other cultures - on the road as at home. fairjourney was founded in 1977 by a group of Swiss development agencies, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and committed tourism operators. Today, the competence center has some 130 members and, thanks to the support of government agencies, its education mandates and promotional partnerships for the operation of the travel portal fairunterwegs.org, is able to focus its activities on fair trade and the respect for human rights in tourism. Find out more in the links below

Hotelleriesuisse (proper spelling HotellerieSuisse, actually Schweizer Hotelier-Verein, SHV; also Swiss Hotel Association) is the business association of the Swiss lodging industry and represents the interests of lodging establishments in Switzerland. Innovation is needed for the Swiss lodging industry to remain competitive. With the Hospitality Booster, HotellerieSuisse enables and promotes innovation. The aim is to implement new services, products, processes or business models proactively and with high benefit for our members. For this purpose, the Hospitality Booster takes up needs from the industry, develops ideas and involves various partners. This is the only way to create new, efficient and needs-oriented solutions. For more information see links below

The "I AM PRO SNOW" project supports Swiss winter sports resorts and companies in reducing their carbon footprint and making their commitment to sustainable and climate-friendly tourism visible. All participants commit to switching to 100% renewable electricity by 2030 at the latest, and compile an individual action program to motivate employees and visitors to adopt climate-friendly behavior. I AM PRO SNOW is a project with international appeal. "I AM PRO SNOW" is an awareness and action campaign for climate protection aimed at mountain railroads. The campaign was launched in America by Al Gore (The Climate Reality Project) and disseminated in Switzerland by MYBLUEPLANET. Our vision is for Swiss winter sports resorts to take on a pioneering role in climate protection by committing in the campaign to switch to 100% renewable electricity by 2030 at the latest. For this purpose, there are further training offers for employees, attractive action days for guests and access to an international network." Excerpt from MYBLUEPLANET

"Nachhaltigkeit als Wettbewerbsvorteil für den Schweizer Tourismus und echten Mehrwert für die Gäste. Dafür bietet Schweiz Tourismus mit Swisstainable ein Programm an, an dem sich alle Leistungsträger beteiligen können." "Ziel der Kampagne sei es, mehr Orientierung für die Konsumenten zu bieten, heisst es. Eine Zertifizierung sei es aber nicht. Die teilnehmenden Unternehmen würden je nach ihrem Engagement für Nachhaltigkeit mit drei verschiedenen Signeten ausgezeichnet. Das erste Level «Swisstainable Commited» steht für Betriebe, die über keine Nachhaltigkeitszertifizierungen verfügen, ihren Betrieb aber in Richtung Nachhaltigkeit weiterentwickeln wollen. Das zweite und dritte Signet, «Swisstainable Engaged» und «Swisstainable Leading», wird an Unternehmen verliehen, die bereits im Bereich Nachhaltigkeit zertifiziert sind." "Entwickelt wurde das Konzept in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Institut für Tourismus und Mobilität ITM der Hochschule Luzern. Zudem wurde es von der unabhängigen Non-Profit-Organisation Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) inhaltlich begleitet. Ausgerollt wird es in der Sommerkampagne 2021 von Schweiz Tourismus. Vorerst wollen die Organisatoren den Begriff Swisstainable, eine Wortkombination aus Swiss (schweizerisch) und sustainable (nachhaltig) hierzulande bei der breiten Bevölkerung bekanntmachen. Kommendes Jahr wollen sie gute Beispiele einer nachhaltigen Veränderung der Reisebranche zeigen und im Jahr 2023 einen Swisstainable-Reiseführer herausgeben." "Die gesamte Tourismusbranche ist eingeladen, sich an Swisstainable zu beteiligen. Um den Gästen Orientierung zu schaffen, werden Leistungsträger, die sich in der Nachhaltigkeit engagieren, mit einem Signet ausgezeichnet. Diese Betriebe werden als Vorbilder präsentiert und in die Gästekommunikation integriert." Information in French and English is available via the links.

The event is organised by the World Tourism Forum Lucerne. "With the effect of the pandemic still ongoing, this is a difficult time for so many across the world. “Moving Forward” is our response to the huge challenges faced by our industry, as we believe the future belongs to those who can innovate, adapt and remain agile. Our Innovation Festival is dedicated to embracing change. Now more than ever, we’re forced to relinquish the past. It’s far from easy, but there has never been a more important time for our community to come together to restart the global economy and create a more resilient, healthy and sustainable world. At World Tourism Forum Lucerne, practicing what we preach and being innovative has meant modifying our own event format. Our biennial Forum is on hold for now and we are moving from Lucerne to Andermatt, an alpine tourism resort. The fabulous new venue allows the entire festival (conference, events and accommodation) to be staged under one roof. For everyone’s comfort and safety it will be a more intimate affair with a strict limitation on numbers. As well as a satellite physical event in Morocco, “Moving Forward” will also be fully hybrid, making virtual participation possible for everyone in our loyal global community across three generations who can’t attend in person." *** Hybrid event: There will be space for 250 on-site participants, with the vast majority taking part online. If we are unable to hold the event in April, we will postpone to a later date. For more information and registration see link below.

We are happy to announce a new edition of the Open Data Hackdays on the topic of tourism! On April 28 and 29, 2021, the third Open Data Hackdays will take place online. The event will be organized and hosted by the students of the Master of Science in “Applied Information and Data Science” program of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in cooperation with Opendata.ch, HotellerieSuisse and the Tourist Office Lab. A look into the future reveals the issues that tourism will increasingly face but also the emerging opportunities: Ecological concern, individual tourism, globalization, technological progress, urbanization and mobility. To deal with these megatrends, the whole industry must respond with new, innovative and transparent offers and products. Registration via links below.

Experiences made during the current pandemic and how the hospitality industry can get out of this in a more strengthened way – depending on the individual speaker, sustainability is an important part of individual presentations and discussions. This virtual conference brings together experts and interested audience from Asia and around the world. The event is organized by the company Quarto Products,

Concrete examples and reactions to the corona crisis provide impulses for sustainable tourism development. In this German-language online event, Swiss stakeholders share their experiences and discuss how these could be transferred to the Swiss and international tourism context.

Conversation series organized by World Tourism Forum Lucerne (WTFL) & WTM Responsible Tourism Description: The importance of striking a balance between the environmental, economic, and social dimensions of sustainable development. A burning issue is biodiversity. Biodiversity is declining faster than at any time in human history. Tourism and biodiversity have a symbiotic relationship – positive and negative. We are committed to:

• Promoting dialogue on responsible tourism as an eco-system service that promotes the conservation of biodiversity.
• Documenting and amplifying best practices in our sector that promote consumer awareness.
• Working with other stakeholders in our industry to advance this agenda together.

#Swisstourism4sdgs

The event is organised by SIPPO (Swiss Import Promotion Programme) and C+C (Colombia + Competitiva) #ColombiaMeInspira es una plataforma de contenidos para descubrir la riqueza turística del país. Online Event celebrating the world tourism day 2020 For more information and to watch the recording, see links below.

The Swiss Tourism Dialogue on SDGs (SwissTourism4SDGs) is a broad-based initiative supported by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO to anchor the Agenda 2030 with its 17 sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the tourism industry. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint for economic, social and ecological development up to 2030. Adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, the SDGs are a call for action by all countries, civil society, the private sector and the scientific community to promote prosperity while protecting the environment. They recognize that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs including education, health, equality and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and working to preserve our ocean and forests. Switzerland is committed to the implementation of Agenda 2030 at both national and international level, and tourism as a cross-cutting sector can make an important contribution to achieving these goals. With the Swiss SDG Tourism Dialogue, we are networking the players in Swiss incoming and outgoing tourism with the aim of ensuring that, thanks to the exchange of knowledge, innovative ideas and good practice the SDGs can be achieved in a more targeted, effective and rapid manner. Consequently, the Swiss SDG Tourism Dialogue does not develop its own measures to help reach the SDGs more effectively but supports initiatives by finding suitable partners for them, tapping into missing knowledge and actively communicating these initiatives within the network.

Official Launch of SwissTourism4SDGs - the Swiss dialogue on tourism & SDGs The initiative aims to anchor the global Agenda 2030 with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) more firmly in the tourism industry. Alongside the Swiss Tourism Federation (STV), the consortium consists of the Swiss Foundation for Technical Development Cooperation Swisscontact, the myclimate foundation, the Swiss Travel Association (SRV), the University of Applied Sciences Graubünden, the Swiss Parks Network, the consulting firm ecos and gutundgut gmbh. The initiative strives to achieve SDGs in a more targeted and effective way through knowledge sharing. The potential lies in better networking of all players in Swiss tourism and in promoting the exchange of practical experience. The role of the SDG dialogue is to raise awareness of sustainability goals, bring knowledge together, find suitable partners for initiatives and actively communicate these within the network. In this sense, the Swiss Tourism Dialogue does not develop its own projects, but brings together committed partners.