Here you can hike, bike, ski, marvel at nature and culture or simply enjoy the view like nowhere else in the Alps. The offer in the destinations Aletsch Arena, Bellwald, Blatten-Belalp, Brig Simplon, Goms and Landschaftspark Binntal is diverse. In order to make the offers and products more visible and tangible for guests as a whole in future, the six players have initiated an intensification of their regional cooperation as the "Tourism Cooperation Aletsch Collective".
The tourist destinations in the region have already been cooperating on individual projects for a long time. Examples of this include the Stoneman Glaciara product, the supra-regional mountain bike and suspension bridge maps and currently the joint staging of three disciplines of the 2025 Bike World Championships by the Aletsch Arena and Bellwald. However, the Innotour project "Digitalization Cooperation Aletsch Collective", which was implemented between 2020 and 2023, served as the actual starting point for intensive and lasting strategic cooperation.
Making better use of existing potential
This successful digital cooperation project provided the decisive impetus for consolidating and expanding strategic cooperation between the tourism organizations. "The potential for cooperation between the six destinations as a tourism region is huge. Our products and our expertise complement each other perfectly," says Philippe Sproll, Managing Director of Aletsch Arena AG and Chairman of the cooperation, with conviction. "We want to seize the opportunity and structure our cooperation in greater depth."
The strategic cooperation project Aletsch Kollektiv, launched a year ago, serves as the basis for this - it is supported with funds from the New Regional Policy (NRP) and accompanied by the Upper Valais Regional and Economic Center (RWO). The project focuses on three areas. These include the joint coordination, development and communication of offers and products as well as the consolidation and continuation of the already established digitalization cooperation, to which five of the six destinations belong.
The third area of strategic cooperation in the tourism region concerns overarching marketing on international markets. Brig Simplon Tourism, Belalp-Blatten Tourism and the Aletsch Arena are involved in this final sub-project. Their tourism products are to be marketed under the Aletsch Arena brand within Matterhorn Region AG, which is responsible for raising the profile of Valais products and services worldwide.
New highlight map now available
According to Esther Schlumpf, RWO project manager, the coordinated communication of offers and products is an important step in strengthening cross-destination awareness. "In future, guests will receive information on offers that go beyond the respective destination. This is real added value for the region," she explains. Specifically, this will be achieved through the targeted integration of offers on the websites of all stakeholders involved.
At the same time, a highlight map has been created, which is now available in the tourism region. For the first time, it presents tourist offers from all six destinations in just one document in an appealing way. In future, guests from all over the world will be able to discover the region's gems on a single tourist map. On this basis, the cooperation between the six destinations is already thinking ahead. Philippe Sproll says: "In the next step, we want to develop an adventure trail with sights to discover in the region. A concept for this is already being developed."
Further information
Philippe Sproll | Managing Director Aletsch Arena AG & Chairman Cooperation
philippe.sproll@aletscharena.ch | +41 27 928 58 61
Source: Media release - Mörel-Filet, 30.01.2025