Gunther Aloys Wants To Make Ischgl Even More Spectacular. Tourism Visionary Sees 9-meter Spider As Magnet For Young Guests.
From the Louvre in Paris to Art Basel and the Guggenheim Museum in New York: art mobilizes the masses. Günther Aloys, chairman of the innovation hub Workshop Ischgl, is therefore striving to combine adventure and cultural tourism. Works such as the Maman sculpture by the French artist Louise Bourgeois are to be embedded in the Tyrolean mountains and attract young, culture-loving guests in particular.
Günther Aloys was a self-employed hotelier (Hotel Madlein and Hotel
Elisabeth), was chairman of the Ischgl Tourist Board for ten years and a member of the supervisory board of Silvretta Seilbahn AG. Through his innovative measures, the Tyrolean played a key role in making Ischgl number 1 in the Alps in terms of occupancy and per capita income. The visionary also produces the lifestyle drink "RICH Prosecco" and has been chairman of the Workshop Ischgl since 1992. As part of this, he has produced a 350-page workbook full of creative ideas, innovations and visions.
With more than 2.5 million overnight stays per year, Ischgl is one of the most successful tourist destinations in the Alps. Günther Aloys, who was chairman of the local tourism association for ten years and who also came up with ideas for numerous innovative projects after that, has made a significant contribution to this. After making Ischgl the center of pop culture with stars like Elton John, he sees spectacular art as an opportunity to set another milestone.
Culture and nature as a symbiotic connection
He cites the sculpture "Maman" by Louise Bourgeois as an example. The original of the 9-meter-high sculpture is in the Tate Gallery of Modern Art in London. Bronze replicas can be seen all over the world, from the USA and Canada to Spain and Japan - but so far almost always in urban areas.
"We see Ischgl as an ideal place to combine art treasures like Maman with a natural backdrop and thereby create something completely new," emphasizes Günther Aloys. The tourism pioneer is convinced that this would be an additional attraction for regular guests and would arouse the interest of a new, culture-loving audience.
Climate change requires new offers for guests
However, Aloys stresses that the municipality, the cable car company and the tourism association are required to implement his latest idea. "The Ischgl workshop sees itself as a source of inspiration. These impulses are desperately needed because winter tourism in particular will change fundamentally in the face of climate change. As a leading destination, it is our job to find answers to this challenge in good time. Ultimately, we have to think 'out of the box' and create alternative offers," adds the former hotelier and cable car supervisory board member.
