On Friday, April 17th, the 27th Annual General Meeting of GST took place without the physical presence of the members. A record number of 300 eligible voters – of the total of 1503 – exercised their rights by written vote.

Increase in overnight stays
David Matti, the outgoing president, said that GST, together with the other tourism service providers, was striving to create "impeccable conditions" in the destination in order to offer guests in the Saanenland a "unique stay". The tourism service providers in the destination are obviously on the right track, as the positive results of the past financial year show: According to these figures, the destination recorded a total of 1,202,846 overnight stays. The destination was also able to increase its turnover in the digitalised services sector (online bookings for hotels, holiday apartments and shops) by 5 per cent to CHF 1,887,609 Swiss francs compared to the previous year and sold 70,000 tickets for events, and achieved a turnover of CHF 187,726 with the gift cards introduced in the last financial year.

New president and new board members
Oliver Waser was elected as the new president to replace the outgoing president David Matti. Waser is branch manager of the Berner Kantonalbank in Gstaad and has been on the GST board since 2018. As a result of the limitation of the term of office, the board members Christiane Matti and Günter Weilguni resigned. In their place, Konstanze Huber, hotelier at Gstaaderhof, Prof. em. Dr. Hansruedi Müller and Richard Müller, owner and CEO Müller Marketing & Druck, were elected to the executive board. In addition, Carlo Bommes was re-elected as a member of the board and Peter Brand was confirmed as a member of the control committee.

Optimistic outlook
Although GST can look back on a very successful business year, it is aware that the current year will bring major challenges: "Together with its partners, Gstaad Saanenland Tourism is more committed than ever to tourism in the destination and its dynamic new start after Covid-19," the newly elected president is quoted in the official media release. Managing director Flurin Riedi adds: "In keeping with the motto 'Dream now – travel later', GST is looking ahead with confidence.

Based on AvS/Kerem S. Maurer