Zürich Tourism Convention Bureau
ZURICH
Connect & Create Impact in Zürich, Switzerland
Zurich is more than Switzerland’s innovation, finance and technology hub—it’s where business minds come together to shape the future. With its seamless accessibility, thriving ecosystems, and a strong commitment to sustainability, Zurich provides the ideal setting for business events to foster connections, drive collaboration, and create lasting impact.
Why Choose Zurich?
- Strategic Location: A central European hub with excellent global connectivity and short travel time.
- Powerhouse of Innovation: A dynamic ecosystem spanning Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Space to Life Sciences and Finance, where corporations, startups, and research institutions collaborate naturally to drive innovation.
- Sustainability Leadership: EarthCheck-certified destination for eco-friendly event planning and responsible tourism practices.
- Cultural and Natural Appeal: Historic charm, creative energy, and breathtaking.
A Thriving Ecosystem of Innovation & Knowledge Exchange
Zurich is a global powerhouse of innovation, boasting a dynamic ecosystem that spans ICT, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, Space Technologies, Cybersecurity, Cleantech, Microelectronics and Microsystems (MEM), Finance, and Life Sciences. This unique concentration of expertise fosters collaboration between leading corporations, research institutions like ETH Zurich, and a vibrant startup scene. Business events in Zurich gain direct access to this thriving innovation hub-creating opportunities for meaningful exchanges, new partnerships, and fresh ideas that extend far beyond the event itself.
Sustainability as a Mindset
In Zurich, responsible event planning isn’t an afterthought-it’s a way of life. As the first Swiss city to receive the globally recognized EarthCheck certification, Zurich is a pioneer in responsible tourism and sustainable event planning. The city’s venues, hotels, and service providers strive to minimize environmental impact while maximizing value for business events and travelers alike. From energy-efficient buildings, eco-friendly public transport to locally sourced catering solutions, Zurich ensures that business events are both impactful and environmentally responsible.
Unmatched Accessibility
Located at the heart of Europe, Zurich is a gateway to the world. Zurich Airport connects the city to over 200 global destinations, ensuring quick and convenient travel for international delegates. Once in the city, Zurich’s highly efficient public transport system allows for effortless transfers between hotels, event spaces, and its rich offering of cultural attractions.
A City Where Business and Leisure Converge
The city’s vibrant cultural scene, picturesque surroundings, and world-class recreational opportunities make it easy to enrich any business event with memorable experiences. Whether it’s an exclusive networking dinner by Lake Zurich, a post-conference visit to renowned museums, or a team-building excursion into the nearby Alps-Zurich offers the perfect balance between productivity and relaxation, ensuring that every event leaves a lasting impression.
Plan for meaningful connections, not just events
With its innovative ecosystems, short distances, and diverse activities, Zurich creates the perfect setting for impactful and memorable business events. Here, people, ideas and the future come together-ensuring that your delegates don’t just attend an event, but build lasting connections that extend far beyond it.
Get in touch with the Zurich Convention Bureau, and let our experts help you connect all the dots to create an impactful event in Zürich, Switzerland.
Zurich - A Premium Destination
Thomas Wüthrich
Director Zurich Tourismus
First of all, congratulations on assuming the role of Director of Zurich Tourism – we know it’s been one year already; we wish you the best of success with your leadership and would like to know a little more about your plans for the future.
You took on the role of director of Zurich tourism in January 2021, pretty much in the middle of the pandemic, so what would you say was your reason for wanting to lead Zurich tourism during this difficult time? Also, what makes you particularly qualified for this role?
Thomas Wüthrich: The start was certainly special. Travelling was practically out of the question as there were travel restrictions everywhere due to the Covid pandemic. My start in this new position had also been postponed, so I used the opportunity to get familiar with the Zurich Tourism team via teams. Then, less than two months into my job, Putin started the war in Ukraine. Despite all the difficulties, however, I was really looking forward to working for Zürich Tourism. It is a highly exciting job and with my previous experience I can certainly contribute something to strengthen tourism in the holiday destina- tion.
Obviously, the pandemic had severe repercussions on the entire tourism and MICE sectors, but are there are learnings we can take away from this period moving forward? Could you, for example, use the ‘down’ time to regroup and plan in a less hectic moment?
Thomas Wüthrich: One important learning is that meetings and personal exchange remain important in post-Covid times. Therefore, there will still be meetings and congresses in the MICE sector. Smaller meetings, 1:1 meetings, will perhaps be held online more often in the future, but the length of travel time for business travellers could increase if they extend their stay for private purposes. This seems to be increasingly the case, and we can play a supporting role in influencing the local experience and on the quality of the respective event. Sustainability, for example, plays an important role here and is increasingly becoming an exclusion criterion. Because business tourism is very important in the city of Zurich, one of my first official acts was to strengthen the congress office team. In terms of personnel, as well as financially.
Now that we are moving ahead at full speed to reignite interest in travel, for e.g. to Zurich and attract more MICE events, what concrete steps have you taken to secure the future?
Thomas Wüthrich: MICE campaigns are indeed planned. We will show meeting planners the value of holding a meeting or congress in Zurich. The diversity on offer for a medium-sized city is tremendous. In the long term, we are focusing on a balanced business mix of corporate events and congresses to ensure high added value.
What motivated the move to link Zurich tourism with the Hallenstadion (Zurich indoor stadium) and with Messe Zurich to create the Arena Convention Expo? What synergies do you hope to achieve with this move?
Thomas Wüthrich: During the pandemic, events came to a virtual standstill and the financial challenges that arose are immense. Thanks to the above-mentioned cooperation, more and bigger events should be possible in the future. At ACE, the A stands for Arena, the C for Convention and the E for Expo, which perfectly sums up what the new collaboration has to offer: Infrastructure and capacities for congresses, corporate events and exhibitions of international size. Most of all, it will now be possible to organise congresses with more than 3,500 participants. With the previous capacities, more than half of all international congresses could not be held in Zurich. This is a great opportu- nity for Zurich as a location. We can already cover small congresses with up to 1500 participants. However, we still lack a congress centre for medium-sized congresses with 1500 to 3500 participants.
Finally, as a closing argument, what makes Zurich so special? Why should event and congress organisers consider this city versus other Swiss cities?
Thomas Wüthrich: As an innovation hub and home to two international and renowned universities, Zurich is primarily a location for many global companies such as Google, IBM and Disney Research. This makes the city on the Limmat river additionally attractive for congresses. Over and above that, the connections within Europe and Switzerland are unique, also thanks to the international airport, which is 10 minutes by public transport from the city centre and is one of the largest in Europe. In addition, Zurich offers everything that other international metropolises also offer for business events however, in a relatively compact space – this makes event organisation easier, and planners can save the costs for many and long transfers and invest instead in important networking events. Sustainable event organisation has almost become a “hygiene factor” and Zurich, located in the heart of Europe, can capitalise on its advantage here.