EP #454 - Pascal Jenny: Building a Sustainable Tourism Business in Arosa

Timestamps:

3:31 - Athletes are their own entrepreneurs

10:01 - Upfront investments for tourism infrastructure

15:44 - How to host a good event 

21:29 - What does sustainability mean in business?

26:30 - Sustainability is not a marketing topic

This episode was co-produced by smzh, your independent go-to partner in all matters relating to finance.

About Pascal Jenny:

Pascal Jenny is the former managing director and current president at Arosa Tourismus. He holds a BA in business administration from UZH and worked in Swiss sports television before founding Arosa Tourismus in 2008. He’s also the founder of tfy-consult, a company offering sustainability checks for other businesses, and is active as a board member at smzh. 

Pascal’s connection to the Arosa region is long-standing: he vacationed there every single Summer until he was 25, and his great-great-grandfather used to be a priest there, as well. As a young person, he always enjoyed Arosa, but found its tourism industry lacking in certain respects, which motivated him to create a business which not only functioned as a hotel but also hosted events and offered experiences, and, most importantly, which measured its results and iterated accordingly. 

Sustainability is a very important topic for Pascal, not only ecologically but also socially and economically. Arosa’s investors are aware that they’re unlikely to get back their investment, but still they offer their money because they want to build something beautiful. And when it comes to the relationship between Pascal’s business and the local Arosa population, clear and constant communication is key — and it served Pascal and his team well both when they came up with the idea to create a bear sanctuary, and when they thought of doing a gay ski week. Arosa Tourismus very intentionally does not invest much on social media marketing in order to avoid swaths of mass tourism coming their way.

Pascal stepped down from his managing director role in 2020 and is nowadays involved solely as president.

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The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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