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Welcome address : Geneva, international city and a place of tourism

Carlo LAMPRECHT - Member of the Republican Goverment and the Geneva Canton, Minister for Economic Affairs, Geneva, Switzerland

 

Geneva, birthplace of the League of Nations and the International Red Cross, European headquarters of the United Nations, with its own 25 non-governmental organisations and more than 150 non-governmental organisations, has over time become a venue for international diplomacy that cannot be ignored.

With this in mind I am delighted and honoured to welcome you here on the occasion of the second Tourism Summit. I would also like to welcome you on behalf of the City of Geneva and the Government of the Republic and Canton (District) of Geneva authorities.

First and foremost Geneva enjoys tourism in many different forms : business, conventions, exhibitions and international conferences.
Furthermore, with its location alongside the French-Swiss Lake Geneva Basin, and via its International Airport, Geneva also attracts pure tourism with the natural attractions of the Lake Geneva Basin and the Rhône-Alps region, and neighbouring France, the latter most notably for winter sports.

It's an honour and a great pleasure for me to welcome you here to Geneva.

Today, as we are all resident in the city for the Tourism Summit, I would like to place Mont-Blanc in the centre of the town, as I have learnt that a leading commercial French culture-orientated distributor, recently established in Geneva, has stolen it from us. I read in a newspaper that, to better target its advertising in Geneva, FNAC had the Mont-Blanc bridge filmed from the opposite direction just so that Mont-Blanc itself could be removed from the landscape, as it apparently has too much of a French connotation. OK then, let's make an about turn and look at reality from the opposite direction. If, this afternoon, you are in Geneva for the opening of the second Tourism Summit, the fact remains that Mont-Blanc is also physically here just a few kilometres away, symbol of a natural heritage that we share with Chamonix.

You will be well aware of Geneva's brand image that is more than just its international work. However it also has the lake and its famous water fountain to which the snow-capped peaks of Mont-Blanc form an impressive backdrop.

Mont-Blanc is an integral part of our town here, and is in the subconscious of our residents. With its immaculate presence it represents a visible corner of eternity amidst our everyday life that is constantly being changed by new technology. It evokes dreams of open uncontaminated spaces amidst our urban promiscuous world, and serves as a reference point for those who live here and for those whose eyes take it in every day.

We all know that this fascination is nothing new. Do we need to think back to those famous 18th century expeditions of Horace Benedict De Saussure, physicist geologist and naturalist from Geneva, whose name is synonymously linked with the exploration and conquest of Mont-Blanc and whose writing played an enormous part in making the town of Chamonix famous the world over.

Of course the vagaries of history and politics have placed a border on the map of our region, although this border is struggling to hold out against certain landscape, sociological and economic realities.

For some years now, and as a result of its geographical location and its economic appeal, Geneva has been one of the main entry points for tourism in the Chamonix region. Every year, between Christmas and Easter, Geneva airport doubles its charter traffic, welcoming some 800,000 new visitors, 70 % of which head straight for the resorts of Savoie and Haute-Savoie.

 Barely one hour after landing, these holidaymakers can be found on the ski slopes, hiking high up in the mountains or even mountain climbing. By definition tourism ignores borders.

What could be more normal, therefore, than bracketing together the evocative names of Geneva and Chamonix-Mont Blanc with a view to launching a new Tourism Summit adventure, one that leaves behind age-old traditions in favour of a united future.

Because, as the 21st century dawns, Chamonix, the birthplace of mountaineering and skiing, wants to confidently embrace tourism, and be considered a pioneer for a new way of thinking. Taking advantage of the long-standing cross-border collaboration that exists between our canton (district) and our neighbours France, it has enlisted Geneva to its cause because, if we don't have the same tourism niche, tourism represents Geneva's 3rd most important economic sector (2,185,000 overnight stays in 1999, a 10% increase over 1998). Geneva records the greatest number of overnight stays of any town in Switzerland. From the Glacier to Lake Geneva, the Tourism Summits therefore exist as the link between two countries, two ways of life, two environmental cultures that seem to complement each other.

And so is created the embryo of the vast network that these meetings propose is spread across the world to promote and develop tourism that is, in every sense of the word, sustainable, dynamic, well thought out and inspiring.

If the economic world can have its annual summit in Davos, then surely the tourism sector can have its venue for reflection near the mythical massif of Mont-Blanc in the heart of a cross-border region where close local cooperation can be added to its international label. From natural spaces to urban spaces, on both a regional and global scale, the Tourism Summits are creating this balance between the local and the global, a balance that our generation is still struggling to find.

The Summits also understand the need to make the link between the many different sectors that are affected by tourism : the economy, philosophy, ecology, sociology, archaeology, science, technology, leisure, culture, communications, the arts, sport … I could go on.

Virtually via the Net, and tangibly each year, those interested in the issue are invited to meet for the Tourism Summits. Along with other partners in the region, Chamonix and Geneva have undertaken to lead the way and head the line-up of economic operators, scientists, sociologists, sports philosophers and ecologists. In other words all those likely to be involved in every possible aspect of tourism so that this vital sector of the economy can continue to develop without causing any harm to the social and ecological environment that is the wealth not only of our region but also of all the places on our planet waiting to be discovered.

Here today, up there tomorrow, I hope you find your stay here beneficial, so beneficial in fact that you will want to come back here in even greater numbers next year.