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Interview with Phi1ppe Vignon

Managing Director of Geneva ourism and Conventions

Q: Could you tell us something your I worked there for two years and was in charge
In the world of Euro- background? of developing the digital strategy for the
pean tourism Mr Vignon group. Finally, I joined Geneva Tourism and
is well-known. Who I do have a rather unconventional career path. Conventions late April 2010.
has not heard about I was born in Geneva of a Swiss-German mo-
Easyjet? He was the first ther and a French father. I spent a few years Q: So now you are promoting Geneva?
in Singapore as a child. Then we moved back
marketing director of
to Geneva and that's where I went to school. Geneva is ranked as the third best city in the
Easyjet Geneva and un-
I studied at the Graduate Institute of Inter- world for its quality of life. In Geneva, you
der his guidance it was
national and Development Studies (HEI) in have a unique association of a geographical
turned it into a tremen-
Geneva; then I studied political science. After location in the heart of Europe allowing you
dous success. graduating from university, I worked as a gra- to reach London in one hour, Milan and other
cious organizer (GO) at Club Med in Greece, destinations in three hours. There is an extra-
Fourteen months ago in Senegal, in the Ivory Coast and in the ordinary quality of life due to the presence of
Mr Vignon was appoin- Caribbean. the lake and the mountains, and an environ-
ted Managing Director ment that is extraordinarily well preserved.
of Geneva Tourism and Then I returned to Geneva and I started work
Conventions (GT&C), the at L'Oreal, the cosmetics company where I It is true that tourism in Geneva is a bit
organ charged with pro- stayed for seven years. I was marketing di- overwhelmed by more visible areas of ac-
moting Geneva abroad rector in a subsidiary of L'Oreal -- Kerastase tivity, such as the finance sector, an inter-
that sells shampoos to hairdressers. national centre for trade, the international
-- another new chal-
organizations and so on. It's my role to
lenge for this dynamic
However, I've always been a fan of flying and promote tourism in Geneva.
man. He has lots of ideas
aviation. When Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the
for Geneva.
founder of Easyjet, bought a charter com- In Geneva there are several strata of the
pany and wanted to set up a subsidiary called population that overlap one another. Howe-
His ambition and hope Easyjet Switzerland, I was offered the position ver, these strata do not live together and have
is to make the inhabi- as marketing director. For eight years I was very little interaction. In Geneva there is a
tants, unique wealth of know-how due to its inter-
internationals
involved in the whole development of Easyjet.
and visiting tourists I was in charge of developing the destinations, national presence, which represents 42% of
more aware of all events the profitability of the lines being opened, the population. Their level of education is
taking place in Geneva. negotiations with airports, etc. I opened a very high. There are a number of issues that
To give you an idea, Ge- business base in Geneva and others, in Basel, are discussed in Geneva, not only in the inter-
neva has forty-two mu- Berlin, Dortmund, Milan, and then at Paris national organizations but also by NGOs, etc.
seums, which make the Orly. I was also in charge of Central and Eas- In fact, Geneva plays a strategic political role
tern Europe. It was a great adventure. In the -- one could even say a very important role
city with most museums
beginning it was really a start-up with three -- although it is a medium-sized city.
per inhabitant in the
aircraft and three destinations. When I left we
world, without talking
had ten aircraft serving eighty-nine destina- Geneva has an extraordinary notoriety! When
about the quality of life,
tions in fifteen different countries. you say "Geneva", everyone knows about it,
etc. However, who is in
whether a link with the Red Cross or UN. But
a better position to talk In my work I had contact with tourist promo- for me some links to Geneva are still lacking.
about the advantages tion agencies. I found it very interesting to My job is to promote the marketing of these
of the City of Calvin see how some cities, particularly in the Baltic links or values. Compared to the number of
than Mr Vignon him- States, realized that tourism can play an im- inhabitants, if you look at what Geneva has
self, so let's leave the portant role in their economic prosperity. This to offer in terms of hotels, in terms of culture
floor to GT&C Managing was a surprise because in Geneva they did not -- it's incredible! For instance, look at res-
Director. understand this. Late 2007 I left Easyjet and taurants in Geneva. The culinary specialties
was then appointed CEO of Digital Concort of more than eighty countries are represented
Press, which belongs to the Edipresse Group. in Geneva; we have forty-three museums in
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