Press releases

While autumn still lingers elsewhere, Bern is already glowing with a touch of festive magic this November. With the new initiative “Berner November Windows”, jointly launched by Bern Welcome and BernCity, the cherished rural tradition of Advent windows is brought to the heart of the city. From 1 to 30 November 2025, a beautifully decorated window will open each day at a local Bern venue – accompanied by little surprises, atmospheric lighting, and heartwarming stories.

The destination Bern is making history once again: With more than 1.1 million overnight stays in the city of Bern and a total of over 1.5 million overnight stays across the entire region, 2024 surpassed the previous all-time high. Bern Welcome also reports a successful annual result and at the same time announces changes in the Board of Directors.

With the new ‘"Accessible Tour of Switzerland", Switzerland is responding to the high demand for barrier-free travel experiences. For the first time, guests with disabilities have the opportunity to discover the diversity of Switzerland on a self-guided tour by train, boat and wheelchair taxi. The tour was developed by the Claire & George Foundation in collaboration with Bern Welcome, Touring Tourism Switzerland and 12 other tourist destinations.

More efficiency thanks to state-of-the-art technology: this is the promise of the Bern Convention Bureaus new partnership with Kuoni Tumlare Congress. From now on, the potential of Bern as a congress destination will be even better utilised. In future, all the threads will come together in one place. The Convention Bureau will recommend suitable hotels and organisers can then easily reserve rooms using the modern Kuoni Tumlare Congress booking tool.

After a few challenging years, Bern Welcome can now look forward to rising overnight stays and record visitor numbers at the Tourist Information. The tourism marketer was able to close the financial year with good results, as demonstrated by the figures presented at the annual general meeting. The shareholders have elected Beat F. Hostettler to the Board of Directors as a representative of GastroStadtBern and surroundings. Tobias Burkhalter will also join, as an additional independent member. The current independent member Kevin Kunz will be representing Kursaal Bern AG from now on.

With Gábor Filep, Bern Welcome’s management is gaining an accomplished personality with many years of professional and leadership experience in Switzerland and abroad. The 33-year-old will become Head of Leisure Tourism & Bern Tourism Network.

Bern is looking forward to a colourful summer. With BernPride, which is also the final event of the EuroGames, the 1 August celebrations and the IFSC Climbing & Paraclimbing World Championships, three major events are coming together on the Bundesplatz (Parliament Square) at the end of July. Instead of organising them independently of each other, the organisers are coming together to create a joint stage for diversity, inclusion and local networking.

The tourism and MICE markets are continually recovering, and Bern Welcome is closing the financial year 2022 in a more positive position than the previous year. At the annual general meeting, the shareholders elected Sven Gubler as the new co-chairman of the Board of Directors. He is succeeding Marcel Brülhart, who is stepping down from his role. With Andreas Wyss, the sub-regions of the destination Bern will now also have a seat on Bern Welcome’s Board of Directors.

Starting from August, Bern Welcome’s management is gaining a very experienced addition to the team: Sibylle Hänni will become Head of Digital Marketing & Communications.

Business tourism accounts for more than two thirds of all overnight stays, making it an important part of tourism in Bern. And Bern’s potential as a congress destination is now being exploited better than ever: Bern Welcome, Bernexpo and Kursaal Bern are joining forces under the name Congress Hub Bern.