How can we make sure that the market we develop today will still be interesting in 20 years? How can we prevent the deterioration and pollution of regions in a touristy context? The answer to these questions may be found in responsible and sustainable development.
On national Route 5, Route Mitteland
The SwissMobile project has been chosen as a best practice example for the following reasons: • it is a good example of a product that stands out because of its sustainable development, • it is a new concept based on the proven model “Cycling in Switzerland”,
• it is part of a big cooperation between the public and private sectors,
• it uses communication strategies that benefit all partners and facilitate the accessibility of products to the public,
SwissMobile Switzerland
Switzerland has a natural and cultural diversity which attracts numerous tourists every year. Known around the world for its mountains and its exceptional landscapes, Switzerland has a lot to offer to the outdoor enthusiast. The 13 touristy regions of the country all have numerous services which easily allow welcoming the visitors. With a dense network of public transportation combined with a geographically central position in Europe, the country is easily accessible.
Sihl Lake, Switzerland
Past, present and future of SwissMobile
The project SwissMobile has been initiated over the course of the year 2000 by the “Foundation Cycling in Switzerland”. This ambitious project aims to make a complete offer of Human Powered Mobility activities accessible to the public. Through this project, Switzerland aims to become the world leader for sustainable travel.
The “Foundation Cycling in Switzerland” wishes to profit from its expertise in order to further develop other types of activities favoring “soft mobility”. Since the year 2000, the project has gone from planning to development. Proof of feasibility has shown that the SwissMobile project was possible and ever since 2004, the realization of this project has been going in the right direction. Hiking, mountain biking, inline skating, canoeing and cycling are the activities which are part of SwissMobile. The objective of this project is to develop interesting offers such as national itineraries, packages and prime destinations for every type of activity. Also, an important part consists of the communication and marketing of the offer. Several tools have been developed to this effect. Making the information about the “soft mobility” offer accessible to the public via a quality web site as well as through service points, is the crucial reason for the success of this project. Finally, the creation of distinct signalization, the public transportation connections and the installation of communication infrastructure are other examples of things realized within the frame of this project.
Despite some delays in the schedule, SwissMobile will be officially presented to the public in the spring of 2008.
Organization
The organization of SwissMobile is not limited to the team that works on the “Cycling in Switzerland” project. In fact, a project of this size requires the support and the financial and personal participation of numerous partners. This is why the organization is composed of the “Conference of responsible authorities”, the “Direction Committee” and the “Project Management”.
While the Direction Committee brings together six responsible authorities, the team of “Cycling in Switzerland assumes the role of Project Management. The Conference of responsible
authorities consists of:
• the partners of the Confederation, • all the Cantons,
• the national organization of transport, • the national organization of tourism, • the national organization of sport.
Signalization
Every type of mobility has a fitting signalization. In total, five different logos have been created clearly indicating the type of activity. The colourful logos illustrate the context in which an activity is practiced and the image symbolizes the type of mobility chosen. Throughout the national itineraries, the regional itineraries (“Cycling in Switzerland”), and the prime destinations in the country this signalization will remain uniform.
Selection criteria for the national itineraries23
The choice of itineraries is based on several criteria, such as: • the national range of the itineraries,
• the aptitude of the itineraries. The national itineraries should target a large public by offering activities at several levels of difficulty,
• quality of the itineraries. The national itineraries should: present attractive landscapes, connect the most popular attractions, integrate existing itineraries and routes and integrate already present ways of transportation,
• marketable offers. It has to be possible to create packages based on national itineraries. If such offers already exist, they should be integrated into the marketing of the itinerary, • the arrangement of the services. The itinerary has to allow its users to make use of
restaurants and accommodation. In the other hand, it should ensure a good connection with public transportation.
Since the start of this project, the “Cycling in Switzerland” model is used as a reference. With its total network completed, the development of the itineraries for the other types of mobility is left. Their official opening is foreseen for 2008. The choice of itineraries and prime destinations should be the following:
“Hiking in Switzerland”: about 3 national itineraries and 40 prime destinations,
“Cycling in Switzerland”: 9 national itineraries, 50 regional itineraries and 20 prime destinations, “Mountain biking in Switzerland” (MTB): about 2 national itineraries and 15 prime destinations, “Inline skating in Switzerland”: about 1 national itinerary and 10 prime destinations,
“Canoeing in Switzerland”: about 1 national itinerary and 10 prime destinations.
Communication of the “MobilCenter” offer
The communication strategy of SwissMobile is a major issue which generates a lot of interest because it plays a primary role in the success of the project. This strategy called MobilCenter, consist mainly of making the offers of Human Powered Mobility accessible through a quality web site as well as through information points.
The communication through Internet is of crucial importance. In fact, through the Internet it’s not only the Swiss population that has access to information related to the offers planned by
SwissMobile, but all people around the world. Again, the “Cycling in Switzerland” model will be used. As in this model, the SwissMobile site will suggest navigation based on a national map. With a mouse click on the map it will be possible to get national, regional, and prime destination itineraries.
Communicating the offer of a country and wanting to share it with the entire world means that you have to be understood by as big a group of people as possible. Having four official languages, Switzerland handles the daily reality of having to translate a big quantity of information that has to be communicated to the people of the country. The web site of “Cycling in Switzerland” witnesses this reality by offering the possibility to navigate on the site either in French, English, Italian or German. The web site of SwissMobile will also be accessible in several languages, which will allow positioning the offers of sustainable mobility in Switzerland on the international market. A second part of MobilCenter is the installation of information points and mobility stations. The
information points will be placed at about a 1000 sites across the country, such as train stations,
tourist information offices and at main junctions of urban traffic. With help of the information points, it will be possible to organize Human Powered Mobility trips or outings and to get additional information. The mobility stations offer a wider range of service such as, information on public transportation, on the Human Powered Mobility offer, on the attractions and touristy events and they offer booking possibilities, equipment rental possibilities and parking services. And all of these are just a few examples.
In short, MobilCenter will attempt to provoke a bigger demand for Human Powered Mobility offers combined with public transportation, in order to realize considerable energy cuts.
24 Verband Öffentlicher Verkehr (VÖV), Konzeptbericht, April 2003 25 Verband Öffentlicher Verkehr (VÖV), Konzeptbericht, April 2003
MobilCenter budget24
• The estimated budget is 3 million CHF, • Exploitation costs for national coordination,
including quality checks: about 0.7 million CHF per year,
• Planning and realization of information points: about 19 million CHF,
• Annual exploitation costs: about 4 million CHF.
Financing of MobilCenter25
• 90% Confederation and Cantons,
Rhine River, Switzerland
The SwissMobile project has been chosen as a best practice example because it integrates not only the bicycle, but also other types of Human Powered Mobility in a total offer. It illustrates that it is possible to share nature with as many outdoor enthusiasts as possible when this sharing is done in a context of respect for the environment. Hiking, mountain biking, inline skating, canoeing and cycling are types of durable mobility which, on top of maintaining a vision of sustainable development, allow Switzerland to hold a competitive position as a tourist destination. The incorporation of communication tools in a strategy of information distribution is also an essential part of SwissMobile. Reaching a vast number of people with the goal to make the immense offer of the project common knowledge is essential. The money spent to reach this goal is an investment in the success of SwissMobile.
Although the realization of this project is not finished yet, SwissMobile seems to be very promising. Based on a proven model of development and directed by a team which possesses sufficient expertise and competence, SwissMobile could also inspire other countries to follow in the same direction, towards sustainable tourism.
Useful links
www.suissemobile.ch www.suisse-a-velo.ch
6 Conclusion
Summary of best practices
In this report, five best practice examples have been presented. The first one is the “Heart Route” in the Emmental region in Switzerland. This route demonstrates an original way to develop a cycling route in order to improve the durable accessibility of this region by use of an electrical bicycle. The second one is the example of the “Bicycle Route Planner” which illustrates a tool that uses information technologies adapted to the needs of cyclists and cycle tourists. The third one is the example of the “Bodensee-Radweg Service”, which demonstrates that both cross marketing and the improvement of products and services may be the key to successful business in a region where the cycle touristy offer is already very well developed. The fourth example, “boat and bike”, presents a combination of two touristy products which together allow the development of new markets. The final, fifth example, is “SwissMobile” which presents a complete offer of Human Powered Mobility activities and the possibility for Switzerland to position itself as the world leader for sustainable mobility travel.
These best practice examples have been selected through the following criteria: new concept, proven concept, use of new technologies, promotion of sustainable development, possibility to apply these examples elsewhere in the world and model of management and cooperation. Switzerland, Germany and The Netherlands have other examples which could have been chosen for this study, but trying to limit the size of this report, the choice of best practice examples has been limited to five.
Cooperation
During the conducting of interviews, the principle of cooperation has very often been mentioned by the interviewees. In many cases, being passionate cyclists themselves, the motivation to target the common objective of improving the total offer of cycle tourism is very high. Also, the cycle tourism offer of a country is represented by a combination of several fields which may benefit from the considerable advantages of combining their efforts. Here are some other examples of highlighted principles during the interviews which point in the same direction:
• consider your competition as a possible partner,
• let companies benefit as much as possible from the passing cycle tourists,
• integrate a cross marketing strategy in order to not only promote your own product, but also the products of others,
• share knowledge, share contacts, share experiences.
Several projects of considerable size have also proven that cooperation is the key to success. The model of the “Foundation Cycling in Switzerland” is a good example. If attention is focused especially on the speed at which the cycle tourism offer of Switzerland has positioned itself amongst the best in the world, it can be concluded that it is the common objective of all partners which has permitted its fast realization.
Offer and demand
The concept of “offer and demand” is very interesting with regards to the cycle tourism industry. In fact, the presence of a high quality offer is crucial to generate a possible demand. This offer will have to represent considerable investments in the development of a cycling network which includes a planned infrastructure for signalization. This offer should not only include the service needs of a cycle tourist, but should also include the services and/or attractions which explain the presence of this tourist. The bicycle is a means of transportation which allows a tourist to travel slowly across a region or a country. This is why the cycling itinerary has to be interesting for the cyclist. The beauty and the variety of landscapes, the availability of packages, the accessibility and the quality of a network and the choice of itineraries for short or long distances are some examples of what makes the offer of a cycling network attractive.
The Netherlands is a good example of the importance of the development of an offer of quality with the goal to create a demand. The bicycle culture, the lack of hills in the country and the mild climate are not the only explanations for the use of the bicycle by the Dutch. In fact, the presence of an important network existing of 6500 kilometers of long distance cycling lanes and a vast selection of loops and regional networks facilitates and motivates the use of the bicycle. Add to this the presence of hospitality services with fitting accommodation and the proximity of historical cities and touristy attraction, and you understand why The Netherlands is an ideal destination for cycling vacations. The demand responds positively to the available offer, generating economic benefits which motivate the country to continue the development of its cycle tourism industry.
Marketing
The quality of a product means nothing without good marketing. Bringing a cycle tourism destination to the market is essential for its success. A part of the planned investment in the development of a cycle itinerary should always be reserved for marketing, because it is essential. Depending on the size of the targeted market, it is important to adapt the marketing strategy. Over the course of the research done for this study, it was surprising to find the considerable number of unilingual web sites hoping to promote a touristy destination, a cycle touristy itinerary or any other product or service aiming for any touristy market. Making information accessible is mainly done by the choice for the language to use and should be considered in the marketing strategy of any touristy product or service. The importance of the English language should not be underestimated.
Signalization
The signalization is an important issue which has the possibility to positively or negatively influence the cycling experience. The key to success can be found mainly in the uniformity and self explicable clarity of the signs used. A master plan for a complete network is strongly
recommended. Such a plan should include precisions on, amongst other things, chosen colours, the logo, the angle of signs which will indicate the direction to follow, the possible combination with other signs and the distance between the signs.
The signalization in Switzerland, Germany and The Netherlands differs from one country to the other. Exemplary models can be distinguished for each country. An overview follows here:
Switzerland uses colours which catch the eye. But what really attracts attention are the signs showing a map with part of the route to follow. This type of sign makes orientation very easy and brings added value to the cycling network.
Map showing part of the route.
The German State North-Rhine Westphalia includes the logos of thematic routes under the signs, indicating directions. This clarity avoids confusion.
Logos of thematic routes.
© “Foundation Cycling in Switzerland”
In The Netherlands, the signalization includes the number of the route and the letter “a” or “b”. This letter indicates whether a cyclist is traveling to the north or south, or to the east or west. Once again, this example shows that a detail can add to the clarity of information provided.
The letter “a” indicates the cyclist in this example is going to the south.
Application to the Quebecois model
Quebec has without a doubt a different geography than Switzerland, Germany and The
Netherlands. The managers of the “Route verte” project (the Green route) have to deal with the distances between the regions which represent a problem when trying to complete the long distance itinerary. Apart from this cycling route, several Quebecois regions already have a
network of itineraries which represent very interesting cycle tourism potential. Nevertheless, many developments will have to take place in order to firmly position Quebec amidst the best cycle tourism destinations in the world.
Several examples of best practices presented in this report can, once adapted, be applied to the Quebecois model, the Canadian model or to the situation in any other country. In Quebec, the variety of regional contexts allows for many possibilities. For example, it could be possible to increase the accessibility of a hilly region by setting up a rental service for electrical bicycles, as was done for the “Heart Route” in the Swiss Emmental region. With a little imagination and creativity, simple, innovative and sustainable solutions may be found to improve accessibility of an area, to expend the touristy offer or to develop complete new itineraries.
Other concepts may be applicable to Quebec, such as:
• the concept of the illustrated signalization throughout this report. It may serve as a source of inspiration in order to improve the already established signalization in Quebec,
• the management model, including cooperation and partnerships between everyone involved in cycle tourism, which may enhance the development of this industry,
• the example of the “Bicycle Route Planner”. This is also a project which offers additional value, especially when the preparation of a bicycle vacation or cycling trip is concerned. • the relatively new, Dutch “boat and bike” example. This concept may be applied to the
situation in Quebec. With the omnipresence of waterways, of which many can be found in the vicinity of or right next to existing cycling lanes or roads suitable for cycling, Quebec