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Welcome remarks

Dr Christian REY - President of Genève Tourisme - President of Société Suisse des Hôteliers, Geneva, Switzerland - Member of the Tourism Summits Scientific Committee

 

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

On behalf of Genève Tourisme, I have the pleasure and the honor of announcing that the 4th Round of the Chamonix Mont-Blanc Geneva Tourism Summits is now open. 

In cooperation with the local government and the city of Geneva, who, like us, wished to see concrete international partnerships formed promptly with France, in particular, we, with Genève Tourisme, immediately expressed our desire to participate, reflect together, in short, to work toward finding possible solutions for the future in the field of sustainable tourism. This last idea is particularly important, since in Geneva alone, tourism provides 20,000 jobs and generates 1.8 billion francs each year in the local economy, while in Chamonix, tourism is the largest economic activity.

Tourism is also the third largest sector in Switzerland, and in many regions it is the largest, accounting for a total of 220,000 jobs. 

Throughout these various Tourism Summits, we have discovered an increasing number of common aspects between the city and the mountain resort, which we owe to the efforts of Mr. Michel Charlet, Mayor of Chamonix and President of the Tourism Summits, assisted by Dr. Keller, Swiss Professor renowned for his reflections on Swiss and international tourism.
This year, the discussion will focus on cultural significance, specifically as it pertains to travel. 

Indeed, why do we travel and go sightseeing ? 

The answer to this question is not solely based on the law of supply and demand. Excluding business travel, for which the focus is on accomplishing a task, the essential motivations for travel are always related to culture. People to travel to see other lands, other ways of life, and other habits and customs. 

However, in order for travel to occur, the economy must provide the infrastructure for reception and use.
Thus, there exist very close ties between tourism – defined as being contingent upon both leisure activities and the economy – and culture.

However, because tourism is related to travel and vacations that fall outside the context of daily life – this is immediately apparent in reality in the form of infrastructures and visitor flow – it must be examined with a broad, extensive approach. Indeed, it is precisely this visitor flow that must be observed in order to analyze the behavior of these tourists with respect to the globalization and the culture of the regions visited.

No one would doubt that we must always keep in mind the balance between the visitors and the visited, which can quickly become unstable. If we fail to do so, serious imbalances may result; for example, the city of Venice, which closes for the day once a specific number of tourists have entered the city. The standardized visitors bring their dominant, ephemeral culture to some places.

But how can we ensure that this tourism occurs under ideal circumstances, in which proper behavior on the part of the visitors demonstrates respect for all aspects of the places visited, including its ways and customs?

These are all fascinating questions to which we will attempt to respond, both here in Geneva and tomorrow and the day after in Chamonix.

We will be attempting to respond to the maximization of these components in these discussions, with a pragmatic frame of mind, so that the theories can later be put into practice.

I am thrilled that we will have the contribution of so many renowned international participants, coming from countries as close as France, and Chamonix in particular, and as geographically remote as Bhutan, who will share with us its experience and gradual opening to tourism. 

Together, we will share our thoughts and experiences, since it is true that what often characterizes tourism is atomicity, with the small- and medium-sized company, or SME, as a common form of work structure. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is on these SMEs that we must focus our attention, as they need to be guided, encouraged and advised with private and public resources, while respecting local cultural traditions and with an appreciation for multiculturalism.

Only if it is economically stable and meets the expectations of both customers and employees, the visitors and the visited, will the tourism company be able to endure. Shall we henceforth ascribe to it a worldwide code of tourism ethics or will the market sufficiently regulate itself ? Furthermore, are these notions not themselves contradictory ? If so, how can we make them coexist and with what benefits ?

We will be analyzing these, and other questions, with all of our orators and experts, and I would be remiss not to wholeheartedly thank them here for their participation, give them all of our grateful attention, and reiterate how pleased we are to be working with them for the next 3 days.

Finally, Ladies and Gentlemen, since we can only do things truly well if we do them with passion and joy,

Let us hope that each of us comes away from these discussions with a feeling of accomplishment.

Finally, what some call the “Blue Planet” (since 2003 is a year of water) while others describe it as “green” or “white,” continues to be a vital issue for tourism, and let us hope that it will offer its advantages, both to visitors and to the visited, and that it will bring satisfaction to each of us as well, as our discussions today can and should serve as guidelines for action tomorrow… and the day after as well !

Thank you very much for your attention.