Price Matters – Relevance of Strategic Pricing for Swiss Tourism in the Past, Present and Future

In his paper from 2003, Peter Keller postulates that a strategic pricing policy can pose an opportunity for Swiss tourism, strengthening the competitiveness and growth of the industry. This contribution from Peter Keller’s celebratory publication on the occasion of his 20th presidency of the International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism (AIEST) picks up on this assumption and discusses the touristic development and enhancement of strategic pricing over the past ten years of Swiss tourism. In the first section of this paper, empirical evidence of the development of Swiss tourism over time and a discussion of its challenges are presented. The second section addresses the postulated value-based pricing concept, including practical examples from Swiss tourism over the past ten years. The third section offers a conclusion, which discusses the relevance of strategic pricing as a means to strengthen competitiveness with respect to future terms. Peter Keller has been involved in scientific tourism research as the president of the AIEST for 20 years. Believing strongly in the fact that sustainable tourism research should be dedicated to a holistic, systemic as well as pragmatic approach, he constantly warned of disciplinary and autarchic traits of tourism research (Keller 2007, S. 96ff.). As an advocate of tourism science, which should be concerned with a human, social and cultural scientific reflection without excluding the viewpoint of economics or business administration, he also crucially influenced national tourism politics as a head of the Tourism Department at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). In his article "Strategic pricing policy as a chance for Swiss tourism" (Keller, 2003, S. 193ff.), he emphasises a "back-to-growth strategy" for Swiss tourism by focusing on a strategic marketing approach, which is oriented towards the "value-based pricing principle" and focuses more on price as a constitutive element. The following paper discusses the past development of the Swiss tourism industry since Peter Keller’s article was published in 2003 and notes the valuebased pricing approach. For this purpose, we examine the development of Swiss tourism, outline the postulated "value-based pricing principle" and discuss some practical applications from daily touristic business. Finally, we draw a conclusion about the applicability of strategic pricing in the future.