Grindelwald Tourism

• Share capital: CHF 600,000
• Employees: 70
• Annual budget: approx. CHF 8.8 million
• Registered office: Interlaken
• Branch offices: Grindelwald, Wengen, Mürren, Lauterbrunnen, Meiringen and Hasliberg

Jungfrau Region Marketing AG (JRM) was founded in 2008 purely as a marketing organisation with an umbrella brand strategy. Four years later, the strategy was completely overhauled and transformed into a multi-brand strategy. At the same time, the Tourism Development Ordinance of the Canton of Bern was revised. As a consequence of this revision, the number of recognised destinations was reduced from nine to six.

After the changes described above, Jungfrau Region Marketing AG and Haslital Tourismus launched the Destination Management Organisation (DMO) project. The new concept was based on the Jungfrau Region’s multi-brand system and a fully integrated management model, with each brand having its own resort management.

JRM has now evolved from a marketing organisation into a DMO, a process that began with the name change to Jungfrau Region Tourismus AG (JRT AG) in June 2015. JRT AG manages all tourism operations at the destination except resort facilities and events. Core marketing, sales and central services are managed (centrally) in Interlaken. Brand marketing, product management and guest services are managed locally (in a decentralised manner) by the local resort management.

Grindelwald, Wengen, Mürren, Lauterbrunnen, Stechelberg, Gimmelwald, Isenfluh, Gadmen, Guttannen, Hasliberg, Innertkirchen, Meiringen and Schattenhalb. These 13 locations, divided up into five resorts, together account for two and a half million overnight stays per year. This makes the Jungfrau Region one of the most popular tourist destinations in Switzerland. It has several world-famous attractions that each have a USP, such as Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe, Schilthorn – Piz Gloria, the Lauberhorn races and Grimselwelt. What’s more, the Jungfrau Region is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch.

Leveraging common ground – living by our values

The various place names (resort brands) have been on the market for many years – and are therefore recognised even outside of Switzerland. A great deal has been invested in making the existing brands world-famous. For these reasons, the market development strategy is based on the five most important resorts in the Jungfrau Region being assigned a clear market task (unique business mission). Grindelwald, Wengen, Mürren, Lauterbrunnen and Haslital share common characteristics and values (mountains, emotions, sports and leisure activities), but have different products, personalities and philosophies.

A budget for each brand

This means that the five brands Grindelwald, Wengen, Mürren, Lauterbrunnen and Haslital, which have developed into established brands over more than 100 years of tourism history, will continue to exist under the Jungfrau Region brand. They will each have clear tasks and targets for market development. The aim of this strategy is to build strong brands and consolidate their personalities through the authority of the base brand. As a consequence, each brand has its own brand budget. The Resort Manager is able to use this budget to strengthen and optimise the brand as they see fit, in line with the positioning that has been established and the requirements of the Jungfrau Region.

Tourism promotion fees (Tourismusförderungsabgaben – TFA), accommodation fees (Beherbergungsabgaben – BA) and marketing and sales revenue (promotions/commissions) are used to fund core marketing activities, cooperative marketing, sales and central services.

Tourist taxes and other income from the local tourism organisations are used to fund information centres, product management and the infrastructure of the tourist resort where they are collected.

Jungfrau Region Tourismus AG allocates any surplus income from the TFA, BA and marketing and sales income to local brand marketing (less the expenses for core marketing activities, cooperative marketing, sales and a percentage of central services costs).

Continuous digital development
Online presence – shop solution – internal training – training of service providers

Classic promotions
Brand campaigns – promotional films – brochures – trade fair appearances – special offers

Key media management
Media exchanges – press trips – storytelling – content management

Key account management
Study trips – acquisition of tour operators

We carry out long-distance market development in close cooperation with the Interlaken tourism organisation and Jungfrau Railways. In addition, we use existing marketing resources with permission from the central service providers and accommodation providers. Local market representatives are supported through supplementary marketing campaigns as part of key partnerships with Switzerland Tourism. The European markets, on the other hand, are served by Made in Bern AG’s market development activities and/or by in-house market representatives.

According to the multi-brand strategy, each brand, including Jungfrau Region Tourismus AG, has its own positioning, which is intended to emphasise the characteristics and values of the brand in question.

The cross-regional positioning changes constantly, but the five resorts each have a clear, fixed positioning.