As a good Swiss, Philippe Vignon will “neutrally” chair the ECM Seminar in Sofia

Philippe Vignon is a Genevan fluent in French, German, English and Italian who started his professional career with l’Oréal Suisse before moving to EasyJet Geneva, where he stayed for 11 years as Marketing Executive. He became the Managing Director of Geneva Tourism & Conventions in April 2010.
As Head of one of Europe’s leading city tourist office and convention bureau, he explains his motives and aspirations as follow:
"In my previous life as a GM Commercial for EasyJet, covering about 20 European markets, I was fascinated to see how quickly and efficiently some destinations were able to position themselves and build up and exploit a competitive advantage in their ability to attract new tourists. Coming back to Geneva, my home town, I encountered criticism and ongoing discussion about what should be done at political and tourist office level to improve things. However, Geneva has so much going for it and has once again been ranked as third best city in terms of quality of life. My job is now to shift a historically administrative led organisation and turn it into a purposeful destination marketing entity, positioning the city aggressively and communicating our unique selling propositions – our USP’s."

Philippe Vignon recently got involved in ECM and he already shows his strong motivation by chairing the next Seminar to be held in Sofia on 17^th March.

What do you expect from being a member of ECM?

It was only last October that I began to discover what ECM was all about at the Uppsala meeting. It’s basically a great forum in which to share best practices in an informal, productive way. You challenge and get challenged and there is always at least one great idea that you can implement in your destination so as to make a difference there.

Are you looking forward to chairing the seminar?

Yes, it’s an honour and being a good Swiss I hope that I will be able to “neutrally” tackle and summarise the issues that will be discussed. There is a really interesting bunch of speakers and I am especially keen to hear what our keynote speaker, Eddie Friel, has to say on whether or not we really need city tourist offices and convention bureaux such as my own Geneva Tourism & Conventions!

Why the topic of “Financing Europe’s tourist offices and convention bureaux, threats, opportunities and solutions"?

The entire tourism industry is shifting. Lower margins for tour operators, middle men cutting you out, pressures on governments to decrease expenditures…all these factors are challenging and shaping our mid- and long- term financing. We need to think pro-actively about how we can continue to justify and fund our activities and, even better, how to position ourselves to get a ‘piece of the cake’ in respect of those aspects of the industry that are lucrative and still growing.

What was your main objective when you agreed to chair the seminar?

Self-interest! I find myself in a situation where the future financing of Geneva Tourism & Conventions is increasingly problematic… Seriously, our future financing is an important issue that is affecting us all! For instance, we have to take key decisions in respect of whether or not to invest in online booking systems and mobile communications – to mention two of the ‘hot’ topics being addressed directly at the seminar.

Can you give us a hint of the seminar content?

Well…I have already given you some insights into my thinking, so all I would want to say additional to this is "come to Sofia" and be prepared to be challenged by Eddie Friel, myself and all the other speakers.

How do you see the future in respect of financing city tourist offices and convention bureaux?

Bright! As long as we work hard and act boldly and creatively on the basis of a reasoned and well thought out strategy. I would not have taken up the post of MD of Geneva Tourism & Conventions if I did not think I could make a go of it, difficult and fast -changing as the times are nowadays.

Do you think that the same financial model can be applied all over Europe?

No, definitely not as the legal, cultural and operating conditions vary dramatically from one city to another. But this being said, there are commonalities across Europe. There is a shared understanding of destination marketing and why it is important for cities to engage in this activity. This serves to legitimate our actions, thus to an extent guaranteeing our financing. Opportunities for revenue generation can be widely shared and adopted – that is what the seminar is all about.

Which part of the seminar are you most looking forward?

I am curious about it all to be honest, and I perceive that all parts will be attractive and of added value for us all.