Congress destination Switzerland in the international spotlight

It might be the world-famous institutions of science and research, the economic stability or the country’s high standard of safety and security – at all events Switzerland is very popular as a destination for international congresses, exhibitions and other large specialised events. In order to make sure that, collectively, these strengths are firmly rooted in the minds of international organisers, the following ten largest and most important congress centres in German-, French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland have joined forces under the motto of “united we stand” using the label of “Swiss Convention Centres” (SCC) and have already been harvesting the fruits of working together for many years:

• Congress Center Basel
• Kongress + Kursaal Bern AG
• Davos Congress
• Centre International de Conférences Genève
• Congress Centre Kursaal Interlaken
• Swiss Tech Convention Center Lausanne (since January 2016)
• Palazzo die Congressi Lugano
• KKL Luzern
• Montreux Music & Convention Centre
• Kongresshaus Zurich

All of these conference centres offer an exhibition area of at least 1 000 square metres and they can all easily accommodate 1 000 participants (some even up to 5 000). All of the SCC locations additionally have sufficient facilities for overnight stays in all comfort classes. The local teams have extensive experience and a high level of professionalism; sound and reliable expertise is the be-all and end-all of any planned event.

Safety, science and short distances

No other country in Europe parallels Switzerland for guaranteeing safety, security and economic stability. The organisers of major political events appreciate the Confederation’s political neutrality. In recent years, Switzerland staged numerous high- level political events, such as the OSCE Ministerial Council in Basel in 2014 or the IRAN Talks in Geneva, Lausanne and Montreux between 2013 and 2015.

For large-scale scientific events, it is of importance that Switzerland is one of the world’s leading research locations. Institutes renowned throughout the world, such as CERN in Geneva and the Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel, are at home here, and the Federal Institutes of Technology in Zurich and Lausanne rank amongst the twenty best universities anywhere in the world. It thus comes as no surprise that, last year, such a preeminent scientific congress as the first World Pancreas Forum should be held in Switzerland. In this current year too, other heavy-weight conferences are already being planned, such as the congress of the European Cystic Fibrosis Society (ECFS) and the Tenth European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCap), each with more than 1 500 participants.

Switzerland has a particularly finely meshed public transport and road system, and travel times are minimal between the most important cities. It thus takes around an hour by either rail or road to travel from Zurich (its airport is rated as one of the five best in the world) to the federal capital of Bern, which is roughly the same as getting from Gatwick airport to the centre of London. The Mobility Ticket, which guests staying overnight receive in most of the locations with Swiss Convention Centres, entitles them to use public transport free of charge within their destination.

Joint marketing

The joint presentation under the Swiss Convention Centres label has proved beneficial for the ten congress destinations and has made it possible for them to improve their positioning in the international showcase and to optimise it further. The Switzerland Convention & Incentive Bureau (SCIB), as the main partner of the SCC, is in charge of its worldwide marketing and employs competent contacts, who are there to assist interested parties from the provision of basic information through to specific, detailed planning. The individual locations benefit greatly in the international setting from their joint marketing, and one of the features of their cooperation is that they make a key contribution to promoting Switzerland’s image abroad.