Valley aims to attract more tourists

The tourism industry is highly competitive. It’s therefore even more important for recreation areas and tourist areas that they stay competitive. This is certainly the aim in the Aegerital Valley, where a joint marketing group with the Schwyz community of Sattel has existed since 2009, with the name Aegerital-Sattel and the slogan “Nice to discover” (Zum Entdecken schön). The fact that the tourist region extends over two cantons also brings challenges, however: different laws and regulations make a uniform image more difficult.
 
In order to optimize this cooperation, the Presidential Conference Aegerital-Sattel decided to commission a thesis from the Höhere Fachschule für Tourismus ( School of Tourism) in Samedan, Graubünden, in the autumn of 2013, and to thereby create a new tourism concept for the region. The work was taken on by Sarah Frank, who herself grew up in Unteraegeri. She drew up her thesis “Creation of an image for the region Aegerital-Sattel region” in the first half of 2014.
 
In the 40-page work, the current situation in the holiday destination of Aegerital-Sattel is analyzed and supplemented with possible measures and recommendations for action. For example, the author groups together the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the region in a so-called SWOT analysis. The strengths of the region include the landscape, which is often free of fog, the region’s own navigation company and a ski area (Sattel-Hochstuckli). Under weaknesses, however, Sarah Frank notes that the region is not well known as a destination due to its size, and that there is no central office to serve the entire region. There is also currently no Unique Selling Proposition (USP), a feature that distinguishes the region from the competition. The Morgarten monument would be a possible USP, notes Frank. "No comparable region has a monument like this." In this context, the 700-year celebration of the Battle of Morgarten would be a great opportunity.
 
In her mission statement, Sarah Frank proposes that a new organization called Aegerital-Sattel Tourism should be founded and that the three existing tourist offices should merge into a single tourism organization.
 
She also recommends that a central office should be set up in Oberaegeri , and an information center in Unteraegeri and Sattel. In order to realize the development potential, the quality of the destination should be increased, for example, by aiming for the Q1 certificate of Swiss Tourism after the reorganization, and through cooperation with other organisations.
 
Hans Ruedi Albisser, President of Spa and Tourist Association Unteraegeri is pleased with the results: "The work met our expectations," he says. Does the proposal to combine forces into a single organization reopen the discussion about a merger of the tourist offices? Albisser thinks not: the recommendations point in the direction of an independent and competent marketing organization that could be supported by the tourist associations and the municipalities. The marketing group is currently working on the organisation of the central office in Oberägeri and the prospected locations in the other communities. We will then discuss the possibility of restructuring together with a delegation from the communities.
 
Barbara Schneider, president of the Oberaegeri tourist office, also feels that they are on the right track with a central marketing group. "The goal must be to present a uniform image to the outside world," she says. This also means that the tourist offices should increasingly focus on local events.