Sustainability

Innovation

Technology

Tourism

Resilient Tourism

The project brought research and industry together to accelerate digital transformation and strengthen the resilience, competitiveness and sustainability of Swiss tourism. How can shared data, innovative business models, simulation tools and cross-sector collaboration create lasting value for the tourism ecosystem?

Start & End Date

01/06/2022 - 01/10/2026

Main Applicant

Inversini, A., EHL Hospitality Business School

Co-applicant(s):

• Chen M.-M., EHL Hospitality Business School
• Crettol, O., Institut de recherche Icare
• Laesser, C., University of St. Gallen
• Mosedale, J., FH Graubünden
• Stuber-Berries, N., Hochschule Luzern
• Schegg, R., HES-SO Valais

External Funding

InnoSuisse Flagship

Project Description

The Resilient Tourism Flagship was a four-year initiative supported by Innosuisse to stimulate systemic innovation and to promote transdisciplinary project collaboration. Conducted from 2022 to 2026, it brought together six research institutions, 34 implementation partners and a wider network of destinations, tourism organisations, technology providers and public authorities.

The project explored how data, digital technologies, innovative business models and collaboration can strengthen the resilience, competitiveness and sustainability of the Swiss travel sector. It was organised around four interconnected areas:

Building the foundations of a National Data Infrastructure for Tourism (a decentralized national approach to connect tourism data through shared standards, governance and practical use cases)
Developing digitally supported services, processes and business models
Creating simulation and decision-support tools for resilient tourism destinations
Connecting research, industry and public-sector actors through communication, knowledge transfer and innovation activities

Partners

• Amt für Wirtschaft und Tourismus Graubünden (AWT)
• Anniviers Tourisme
• APG|SGA, Allgemeine Plakatgesellschaft AG
• Com.cierge GmbH
• Basel Tourism (BST)
• Crans-Montana Tourisme & Congrès (CMT)
• Discover.swiss AG (DISCOVER)
• Federal Office of Transport (FOT)
• Federal Statistical Office (FSO)
• Fondation TheArk
• Fördergeselschaft IMP-HSG
• Gastrosuisse (GS)
• Graubünden Ferien (GRF)
• Guidle AG (GUIDLE)
• Hotelleriesuisse (HS)
• International Federation of IT in Travel and Tourism, Swiss Chapter (IFITT)
• Intervista AG (INTERVISTA)
• Jungfrau Region Tourismus AG (JRT)
• Lucerne Tourism AG (LTAG)
• Nendaz Tourisme
• Service de la promotion de l'économie et de l'innovation (SPEI)
• Sierre-Anniviers Marketing
• Sisag AG
• State Secretariat for the Economy (SECO)
• Swiss Cablecar Association
• Swiss Federal Railways AG (SBB)
• Swiss Federal Railways AG (SBB)
• Swisscom (SWISSCOM)
• Switzerland Tourism (ST)
• Thomann Holpitality Management (THM)
• Ticino Turismo (ATT)
• Valais/Wallis Promotion
• Vaud Promotion
• Zurich Tourism (ZHT)

Main Results

A stronger foundation for tourism data

New tools and models for tourism businesses

Simulation-based destination planning

A national innovation community and project results accessible through multimedia content

Visit the Resilient Tourism project platform for more results

Resilient Tourism Website

EHL Activities and Results

EHL Hospitality Business School led the Flagship’s coordination, communication and ecosystem-building activities. Beyond project management, its role was to ensure that knowledge produced across the research programme was shared beyond academic circles and translated into dialogue, collaboration and practical innovation.

EHL’s work focused on three complementary priorities:

Managing and coordinating a 40+ partner consortium across Switzerland
Making project results accessible through communication and multimedia content
Connecting academia, tourism businesses, destinations and policymakers
Supporting concrete digital-transformation projects in the tourism sector

annual conferences

EHL coordinated a national conference series bringing together researchers, tourism organisations, public authorities, technology providers and industry practitioners. The four editions, which were carried out in different Swiss partner regions, provided opportunities to present results, host cutting-edge discussions and develop new collaborations.

podcast seasons for 60 episodes

By interviewing national and international experts of the tourism and hospitality sectors, EHL documented perspectives on tourism innovation, data, digital transformation, high-tech and high-touch hospitality, and the future of tourism.

Listen to the Resilient Tourism Podcast Series: The Resilient Tourism Podcast Series was created to make insights accessible and relevant to tourism practitioners, policymakers and innovators. Across four seasons and sixty episodes, the series brought together leading tourism scholars, destination managers, technology providers and industry experts to discuss digital transformation, data, innovation and the future of tourism.

tourism innovation projects supported

A coaching programme for tourism SMEs in Canton de Vaud (CH): In collaboration with Vaud Promotion and the Service de la promotion de l’économie et de l’innovation (SPEI), EHL provided coaching, mentoring and innovation support to tourism SMEs undertaking digital transformation projects.

Across four editions, the programme supported 21 digital transformation projects reflecting the diversity of Vaud’s tourism ecosystem: 7 destinations and tourism offices, 6 attractions and heritage organisations, and 8 SMEs, start-ups and solution providers. Projects ranged from visitor data and performance management to the digitalisation of operational processes, enhanced visitor experiences and marketing, and the development of new platforms, services and business models. The programme proved that a combination of targeted coaching, financial support and ecosystem collaboration can generate lasting impact, helping tourism organisations move from ideas to implementation while catalysing larger innovation initiatives beyond the programme itself, including the Innotour-funded Smart Région Touristique project.

The Podcast Serie

See All Our Podcasts

Publications

Reports

AI in Hospitality Whitepaper

Artificial Intelligence in Hospitality Whitepaper, offers a comprehensive and evidence-based exploration of AI’s impact across the sector. Developed in collaboration with Swiss hoteliers and EHL experts, it blends academic insight with practical relevance to help industry professionals and hospitality stakeholders understand where AI is headed in this sector.

Download the whitepaper

Scientific Outputs

Chen, MM., Inversini, A., Keller, A. (2025). Human Centricity in the Age of Digital Transformation. In: Nixon, L., Tuomi, A., O'Connor, P. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2025. ENTER 2025. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-83705-0_35

Inversini, A., Chen, MM., Keller, A., Schegg, R. (2024). Hot Topics in Travel Digital Transformation: A Swiss Perspective. In: Berezina, K., Nixon, L., Tuomi, A. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2024. ENTER 2024. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-58839-6_21

In the Media

2023: Data-Driven Resilient Tourism Systems

The year 2022 closed with an aura of hope and optimism for the new year to come. Without forgetting the uncertainty that has prevailed in the tourism and hospitality industry in recent years, it seems that we have seen enough reports, publications, and predictions to believe that the year 2023 will be a promising one.

EHL Blogs

Resilient Tourism Flagship: a Closing Ceremony Heralding a Bright Future

An outdoor company developing an online reservation platform; a nature park setting up an app for its visitors; the wildly successful ‘caves ouvertes’ plotting its future; a hospitality services firm striving to enhance the visitor experience in Switzerland. These were just four of the 21 organizations for whom EHL Hospitality Business School provided coaching services as part of the Resilient Tourism Flagship, supported by Innosuisse – a federal entity.

Read full article

AI in Hospitality: Transforming Service Experience and Efficiency

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been significantly reshaping the hospitality industry over the past decade. From luxury hotels to fast food joints, AI tools are affecting how services are delivered and how operations are run, ultimately having an enormous impact on the customer experience overall. But what does this digital transformation really look like?

Read full article

Driving resilience in Swiss tourism: Data smart innovation for SMEs

Dr. Meng-Mei Maggie Chen (Assistant Professor of Marketing) and Amélie Keller (Flagship Resilient Tourism Coordinator), offer insights into their collaborative work with Nyon Région Tourisme and Blent Hospitality Business Intelligence.

Read full article

Swiss Tourism outlook 2023: Datafication for Resilient Tourism

With 2023 almost upon us, perhaps the tourism industry can finally expect to rebound in the coming months to its happy and healthy state. But the word "perhaps" cannot be overlooked, as nobody can predict the future and we will certainly live future crises. The travel sector cannot experience another collapse and should not rest on the status quo when recovering from downfalls. Therefore, rethinking tourism and building resilience in the coming years is exactly what is needed to prepare and minimize future challenges. In a joint effort to stay ahead with trends, the Swiss tourism and travel sector has chosen to bet on data and technology to undertake its national resilience journey, thanks to a national Innosuisse-funded project: The Flagship Resilient Tourism Project.

Read full article

Dr. Inversini on human-centered digital transformation

Welcome to a new Q&A feature where we shine the spotlight on our EHL research faculty and their current work. With a view to going behind the scenes to better understand the fascinating, impactful world of research, the EHL Institutional Visibility team will be regularly catching up with an EHL researcher whose work is making a difference in both classroom and industry.

Read full article