Lenzerheide Marketing & Support AG Reports Positive Outlook
Lenzerheide Marketing und Support AG (LMS AG) presented a balanced 2020/21 financial statement at its general assembly. A look at the overnight stay statistics for the Lenzerheide holiday region is positive with an increase of 7.6% compared to the previous year, which was hit by corona. Felix Frei, Brigitte Küng and Bruno Zenklusen were elected as new members of the Board of Directors at the renewal elections. The board of directors of LMS AG is now chaired by Daniel Stiefel.
With a minimal loss of CHF 229.00, those responsible at Lenzerheide Marketing and Support AG (LMS AG) were able to present a balanced 2020/21 financial statement at today's general assembly. Operating income rose by 12.7% to CHF 5.3 million, which meant that direct marketing expenses could be increased by CHF 300,000.00 to just under CHF 2.3 million.
Hotel and non-hotel business in plus, group accommodation in minus
After the slump in the previous year due to the corona-related shortened winter season 2019/20 and the elimination of overnight stays from Brienz / Brinzauls, the curve of the overnight stay statistics for the Lenzerheide holiday region is clearly pointing upwards again. Between May 2020 and April 2021, the municipalities of Vaz / Obervaz, Churwalden and Lantsch / Lenz recorded a total of 1,655,470 overnight stays, an increase of 7.6% compared to the previous year.
"Thanks to the many Swiss guests who have been visiting Lenzerheide as a holiday destination for years, and the new guests who had to swap the" mountain feeling "for the usual" beach feeling ", the overnight stays in the hotel and non-hotel business could be increased again at a high level" , emphasizes Bruno Fläcklin, Tourism Director of the Lenzerheide Holiday Region. Only the group accommodations had to accept large losses with a minus of 53.8% (municipality of Vaz / Obervaz).
"In retrospect, one can say that Switzerland and especially the canton of Graubünden have found an exemplary way to maintain a certain normality despite the necessary restrictions," says Domenico Bergamin, managing director ad interim, explaining the increase in overnight stays during the Covid-19 pandemic . What was admirable for him was the vigor, flexibility and wealth of ideas with which many top performers dealt with the situation. Domenico Bergamin is convinced that “from the served motorhome dinner to the“ cook box ”delivered home to digital shopping in the sports shop, it became clear that new ideas often arise in times of crisis.
Domenico Bergamin took over management on an interim basis
Internally, the 2020/21 financial year was marked by the renewed health loss of the managing director and tourism director Bruno Fläcklin. In December 2020 he underwent a stem cell transplant and completely withdrew from the operational business of LMS AG. Since then, management has been taken over by Domenico Bergamin on an ad interim basis. For a few weeks now, Bruno Fläcklin has been gradually taking over individual projects and tasks and will take over the post of Tourism Director and Managing Director of LMS AG from Domenico Bergamin again on November 1, 2021.
Common digital ecosystem for Arosa Lenzerheide
In addition to the launch of the Bike Kingdom Lenzerheide, the conception and implementation of the #entdeckelenzerheide campaign, which not only established a corona-compliant visitor management but also the use of Lenzerheide rangers, and the implementation of the FIS Ski World Cup Final 2021, another major project bundled the specialists of LMS AG . With "al.digital" the four companies Arosa Bergbahnen AG, Lenzerheide Bergbahnen AG, Arosa Tourismus and LMS AG started a comprehensive digitization project. With a digital ecosystem, the guest experience is to be placed in the foreground in the future by standardizing, upgrading and simplifying access to all offers and information.
Renewal elections for the Board of Directors
The renewal elections for the Board of Directors were at the center of the general assembly of LMS AG. With Giancarlo Pallioppi and Nico Pesko, two previous members were elected as representatives of Lenzerheide Tourism for a further term of office. In doing so, you ensure continuity in the top body of LMS AG. The representatives of the municipalities of Vaz / Obervaz and Churwalden will be elected as a result of the change in the municipal councils at an extraordinary general meeting in January 2022. At today's general assembly, Bruno Zenklusen was newly elected as President of Lantsch / Lenz Tourism and representative of the municipality of Lan-tsch / Lenz. In addition, the two seats of Lenzerheide Bergbahnen AG were newly occupied by Felix Frei, Chairman of the Board of Directors of LBB AG, and Brigitte Küng.
Daniel Stiefel new Chairman of the Board of Directors
After the previous Chairman of the Board of Directors Ernst «Aschi» Wyrsch decided in spring 2021 not to stand for re-election, the two main shareholders, Lenzerheide Tourismus and LBB AG, nominated Daniel Stiefel as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors. At today's Annual General Meeting, the 56-year-old manager and consultant in the areas of customer relationship management, marketing, digitization and controlling in the national and international environment was unanimously elected as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors of LMS AG.
Daniel Stiefel is looking forward to his new challenge in his second home: “I have had a strong connection with Lenzerheide since I was a child and a fan of the region. We have a very attractive offer both in winter and in summer. I am therefore looking forward to putting my professional experience and my point of view as a guest at the service of LMS AG and, together with the team, helping to continue to position the holiday region successfully and to further develop it in accordance with the needs of our guests and the population".
