Practical project on community building in Andermatt and Val Bregaglia

January 29, 2023

Andermatt Swiss Alps, Bregaglia Engadin Turismo and the University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons are teaming up to develop sustainable communities in mountain destinations. A practical guide is to be developed by the end of 2025.

Many Swiss mountain destinations are facing the challenge of invigorating a town all year long. Community building is an approach for counteracting this problem. Communities are networks of locals, owners of second homes, guests, workers and employers. These networks can boost the attractiveness of the destination and bring the population closer together.

Establishing and developing communities

Community building has not been a subject of much research so far. In the pilot regions of Andermatt and Val Bregaglia, this practical project co-financed by Innotour will study how communities in mountain regions can be established and developed in a targeted manner. Andermatt Swiss Alps and Bregaglia Engadin Turismo are representing the pilot regions.

Over the next three years, the two pilot regions will develop a strategy for community building under the guidance of the University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons. This will include implementing individual pilot projects and testing them in practice. At the end, a practical guide will be created for the mountain destinations.

Andermatt Swiss Alps AG – Welcome home.

Andermatt Swiss Alps AG, with registered office in Andermatt, plans, builds, and develops the year-round destination of Andermatt. In 2009 Andermatt Reuss came into being, with apartment buildings, hotels, and chalets. The Andermatt Swiss Alps Group owns the The Chedi Andermatt and Radisson Blu Reussen hotels, an 18-hole, par-72 championship golf course and the Andermatt Concert Hall. A close partnership is in place with Andermatt-Sedrun Sport AG (SkiArena Andermatt-Sedrun, the gastrobrand Mountain Food and the Swiss Snowsports School Andermatt) and its majority shareholder Vail Resorts, Inc. for developing the destination. Vail Resorts, the largest operator of ski resorts, and Andermatt Swiss Alps are together pursuing the vision of becoming The Prime Alpine Destination. In doing so, they are committed to an intact environment and a sustainable future that will enable coming generations to have an extraordinary home. During high season, Andermatt Swiss Alps and Andermatt-Sedrun Sport AG have more than 1,000 employees working at the locations in Altdorf, Andermatt and Sedrun.

andermatt-swissalps.ch / andermatt-responsible.ch

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