Kuoni Brand Report E 2009 by Kuoni Travel Holding Ltd.

Br and R eport 2009

unique quality can only be achieved if people bring >passion< and creativity to their work. In this sense at least, putting a journey or a holiday together is no different from creating a great work of art. And because Kuoni is dedicated to discovering new things, tracking the zeitgeist and really trying to understand what people want, it is in a position to give its guests incomparable moments whose beauty lingers long after the event.

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Awa r ds 2009 (select ion)

San Diego CVB Client of the Year award Dest inat ion M a nagem en t USA (A lliedT Pro) “Excellent Brand of Long Haul Tour” by Metro Finance’s Hong Kong Leaders’ Choice K uoni China Swedish Design Award “Best Editorial Print 2009” for the magazine “Stopover” Nova ir (A pollo Sw eden) Grand Travel Award 2009 for “Best Tour Operator in Norway” A pollo Norway 8 awards (gold, silver and bronze) at the Travel Star Awards 2009 K uoni Sw itzer l a nd Best Annual Report 2008 award by the magazine BILANZ Reader’s Digest “Most Trusted Brand” 2009 in the category travel “Best of Corporate Publishing 2009” Silver Award for the Kuoni Annual Report 2008 “European Excellence Award 2009” for the best employee magazine “The Link” K uoni Group Galileo Express Travel Award for “Best Inbound Tour Operator” (6th time in a row) Dest inat ion M a nagem en t Indi a TTG Asia Travel Award for “Best Travel Agency India” PATA Gold Award for “Marketing – Industry” (Perfect Moments campaign) PATWA Award for “Best Travel Company in India” K uoni Indi a Best Tour Operator to North America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand as well as for Best Specialist Tour Operator K uoni Benelu x The Sunday Times Travel Readers‘ Award for “Favourite Tour Operator for a Family Holiday” K uoni U K Condé Nast Traveller 2009 Readers‘ Travel Award in the category “Best villas” CV T r av el (K uoni U K) TTG Asia “Best Travel Agency” – Indochina Dest inat ion M a nagem en t Asi a Pacific (Asi a n T r a ils Lt d.)

Br and R eport 2009

BR AND R eport 2009

Brand R eport 2009

travelling is, in a way, a preparation for life. a ndy leem a nn, pa rt icipa n t, ga nges ex pedit ion 2009

i come from a religious background, and in our religion the ganges is worshipped as a mother. we were introduced to the river as mother ganges. so for me the ganges expedition was both a religious and an adventurous experience. spiritually, it was quite rewarding. mon u singh, pa rt icipa n t, ga nges ex pedit ion 2009

experiencing simplicity on a journey helps to learn more about yourself. jaja vondruskova, pa rt icipa n t, ga nges ex pedit ion 2009

travelling is all about learning. a pa l singh, pa rticipa n t, ga nges ex pedit ion 2009

Dear fellow travellers, The world around us is full of beauty, and it is important to all our lives that we can appreciate it. Travel is often prompted by the desire to discover beauty, whether in nature, in encounters with other people and cultures, or in ourselves. So we were keen to think a little harder about the precise nature of the beauty that people go looking for on their holidays, about the different ways of finding it, and about how we can preserve it for future generations.

r emo m asa l a svp globa l br a nding & m a r k et ing

beauty is an experience

We integrated these ideas into a dynamic process of change and development that began two years ago and included a complete repositioning of the Kuoni brand. The central elements of this comprehensive transformation were presented in the first Kuoni Brand Report in 2008: from the new corporate values and new image, to innovative product lines and services, to the “Getaway Council”, Kuoni’s forum for thinking way beyond our industry’s usual parameters. By taking these important steps, Kuoni was continuing its centurylong tradition as a travel business pioneer, and setting the course for a successful future. Over the last year we have won yet more awards for our work and received a lot of positive feedback about our distinctive products and services, as well as about the high quality of our communications. We live in increasingly complex times. People’s needs are becoming more individualised and differentiated, making it harder to lump them into simple trends. As a leading premium travel company, we have to penetrate deeper into the zeitgeist of the 21st century, continuously developing new concepts so our travel offerings meet the needs of even the most demanding person. Our 2009 Brand Report focuses on the theme “beauty is an experience”. We do not, of course, claim to be making any great contribution to the philosophical debate about the nature of beauty – but we can learn from this debate. At least since Kant and the philosophy of sensibility, we have known that beauty is not an objective quality, but that it’s based on our subjective perception of things around us. To put it simply, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To go back even further, the ancient Greeks developed a concept of inner beauty based on the nature of a person’s soul and character rather than on the way he or she looks.

Both aspects can provide important insights into the future of travel. In our industry, beauty is still usually understood in a very simple way: beautiful beach, beautiful hotel, beautiful landscape. But for Kuoni, the idea of beauty is also to do with a person’s state of mind and subjective perceptions. This kind of beauty can reveal itself in very different situations and experiences – on the Seychelles, in Chernobyl or while working on an aid project. The decisive thing is always the individual traveller, and his or her particular assumptions, interests, desires and intentions. We wanted to delve deeper into these ideas and travelled to meet some people who we thought could help us learn more. We had a detailed conversation with Berlin-based media expert and philosopher Professor Norbert Bolz, whose writings had already given us much food for thought. Professor Bolz talked to us about the inner beauty that gives life meaning and that people increasingly want to find on their holidays. And he introduced us to some very exciting ideas about authenticity and travel. We were also lucky to talk to Professor Mohan Munasinghe, joint winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize and one of the world’s most respected thinkers on sustainable development. We met Professor Munasinghe during the World Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, where he told us about his concept of sustainability. This focuses very much on beauty and harmony – echoing the features of a new type of travel that Kuoni is already working hard to develop. On the following pages we also present some of the projects with which Kuoni is hoping to contribute to the preservation of beauty in the world. “save the beauty” is both our motto and the appeal we make to our guests. As a pioneer of sustainable travel, Kuoni was particularly happy to be a partner in the extraordinary Ganges Expedition. The expedition, which looked closely at aspects of sustainability, was the first of its kind: an international crew travelled the entire length of the Ganges from its source in the Himalayas to its delta on the Indian Ocean. We sponsored the expedition because we knew we could learn a lot from it and because it had an altruistic dimension in a country which is very close to Kuoni’s heart and where about 3 000 people work for us. For most of them, the Ganges has great significance as India's Mother. The expedition highlighted the dramatic threats posed to the river, and drew attention to some important projects,

such as the one to protect the Ganges river dolphin. We also used the opportunity to ask the participants about their experiences, about making sacrifices, unusual encounters, unfamiliar food and the luxury of doing without things. We present their responses in a series of striking photos and impressionistic reportage. Beautiful journeys resonate in our memories, but also in the work of authors and artists. The Ganges expedition certainly provided a great source of inspiration. Thukral & Tagra, internationally celebrated stars of the Indian art scene, have made five wonderful, ethereal images of dreams and travel based on photographs from the expedition. We publish them for the first time in this Brand Report. Like these artists, Kuoni is extremely interested in the form and the look of things, whether designs for the perfect travel agency or photos showing a perfect holiday. But given the increasing individualisation of aspirations, can we still usefully impose general aesthetic standards of beauty? If perception is subjective and beauty is a matter of personal judgement, is it still possible to identify objective criteria? We talked about these matters with designer Michael Schickinger, and with Armin Fischer, who designed our new travel agency in Zurich. We came to the conclusion that it’s all about expressing values, telling travel stories and creating room for personal experiences – and staging things in such a way that the ideal and the authentic can be combined. We can only find beauty through our experiences. And whatever the external manifestation of these experiences, they always deliver the richest rewards when we remain open to new things and look for humanity wherever we go. We can then encounter beauty even in places that might not seem very beautiful at first sight. Kuoni has used the last year to find possible new paths to this kind of beauty. Our job now is to show our guests what we have found and take care of them as they make their own journeys.

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a child’s laugh

a jou r ney to Cher noby l

the journey to meaning make a mark

in con v er sat ion w it h prof. nor bert bolz

A rt a nd f und-r a ising

save the beauty

k uoni clim ate project & k uoni clim at e tag

beauty through sustainability gaṅgā

in con v er sat ion w it h prof. moh a n munasinghe

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6 experiences

t r av elling t he ga ṅgā

in conversation

lea r ning from ex t r em e ex per iences

somnium genero

t hu k r a l & tagr a

the colours of a brand

how k uoni uses its v isua l l a nguage to com municat e va lu ess

inspiration

A t r av el agency t h at a ppea ls to t he senses

innovation

new for ms of di a logu e

beauty is an experience.

k uoni br a nd r eport 2009

a jour ney to the devastation a nd hope of Cher noby l

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a childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s laugh â&#x20AC;&#x153;Chernobylâ&#x20AC;? conjures up images of death, doom and desolation like few other place names. It is burnt onto the collective consciousness as a symbol of the potential dangers of technological progress. A reminder that technology is only our friend if we can keep it under control. It was here in Northern Ukraine that it happened: the worst case scenario, the nightmare vision of a nuclear disaster come true. Deaths running into the thousands and a whole region made uninhabitable for decades. And it was precisely to this place of devastation that Kuoni, through its ananea programme, organised a trip in collaboration with the Green Cross charity.

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The everyday normality of these young people's lives betrays nothing of their families' fate.

the beauty and the invisible threat are intimately entwined Why would Kuoni want travellers to be confronted with this disaster? And what would our guests expect of such a trip? What would they find? A visit to Chernobyl is an on-the-edge experience for travellers and a risky venture for a travel company. We took the risk because we take our commitment to authenticity seriously and because we believe that if a travel company really wants to show its guests the world in all its variety and diversity, it shouldn’t balk at difficult or uncomfortable destinations. A journey like this is a life-changing experience. It can help us to grow, give us unforgettable encounters and experiences, and transform our consciousness. You learn a lot visiting Chernobyl, and the range of contrasting experiences is enormous. You stand bewildered in front of the destroyed reactor, covered with only a makeshift protective sarcophagus of concrete, and you can still easily imagine the huge destructive potential it once had. Scattered around, we can still see relics of the deadly struggle fought by workers as they hastily cleared away the radioactive rubble and tried to repair the damage, protected by gas masks and armed with shovels. We find abandoned toys and, in a particularly poignant moment, imagine the long-extinguished laughter of children at the funfair in Pripyat. This was the

town where the reactor’s staff lived, the town that was completely evacuated at a moment’s notice and to which no life has yet returned. We were to hear children’s laughter later too, when we investigated the disaster’s long-term effects and met the children who have to live with the burdens bequeathed to them on that fateful day. But the journey is not just a confrontation with death. Most of all it is an opportunity to meet the people who survived. Some of them have defied the law and returned to the exclusion zone because this is their home and because they don’t see how they can live anywhere else. The beauty of the rural idyll and the invisible threat of the radiation are intimately entwined, giving you an intense sense of just how fragile our world is. Most people have started a new life in other places. Places like Slavutych, the hastily erected satellite town where the evacuees were resettled; or Zhytomyr, where two institutions supported by the Green Cross, a children’s home and a mothers’ club, provide valuable social help. As well as medical and psychological support, they run courses on health and the environment. By learning how to avoid radioactivity in their food, attendees can help protect themselves and their families from health problems. This is where we meet the children of the children who had

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to flee from Pripyat. The travellers work with them on handicrafts and distribute toys and presents. And at last we hear it – laughter. A sign that even here there is optimism and the courage to face life; but also a reminder that we have to treat their future, and ours, with care. It’s moments like these that breed hope and that allow us to get close to people whose fate we only previously knew through the filter of media reports. The journey to Chernobyl is a unique, thought-provoking experience that very dramatically shows us the challenges we face as we seek to shape a future worth living. Ultimately, Chernobyl is a memorial to the responsibility we have to our children. So are we just travelling there now to wallow in horror and indulge in

left Signs of the horror all around: places and objects bear witness to disaster.

middle The ananea tour group in front of the destroyed reactor. right The study trip to Chernobyl is part of Kuoni Switzerland’s ananea programme. ananea offers authentic encounters, unforgettable experiences in the natural world, and travel based on respect.

voyeurism? No, because the visit is also hugely encouraging. It lets us see how life can thrive even in the most difficult conditions; how children can grow up, how reconstruction is possible and how large an effect simple, direct help can have on people. The journey provides many moving, touching moments, changing the way we think about the urgent problems of our times and allowing an unadorned view of a truth to which we often shut our eyes. Though many may find it paradoxical, these experiences can be beautiful because they help us to understand, to broaden our thinking and to experience what humanity really means.

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norbert bolz is Professor of Media Studies at the Institute for Language and Communication at the Technical University of Berlin. The media philosopher is one of Germany’s most brilliant thinkers and frequently helps set the agenda on political and economic issues. His publications, which include “Das Konsumistische Manifest” and “Die Konformisten des Andersseins”, have often triggered national debates. In his latest book “Profit für alle. Soziale Gerechtigkeit neu denken”, Bolz calls for a new kind of capitalism that focuses on the production of social wealth. We met Professor Bolz in Berlin and talked to him about responsibility, beauty and the nature of tourism.

Professor Bolz, in your latest book "Profit für alle" you sketch out a model of social wealth that affects the whole of society. As a premium travel company, Kuoni was naturally interested in hearing from you whether and perhaps how this model could apply to our concept of luxury? N.B. I believe very strongly that when it comes to luxury we have moved away from physical, material luxury, i.e. classic status symbols like expensive watches and yachts. These days two trends tend to determine our understanding of what luxury is. One is the spiritualisation of consumption and the other is exactly what I mean by social wealth: the fact that the social dimension is also becoming an arena for the creation of one’s identity. A lot of things that used to seem like obvious opposites have collapsed into each other. Sustainability has now become a paramount virtue because business has recognised that the old confrontation between the economy and the environment is simply false and that the two are actually mutually beneficial. I predict that something similar will happen with the second great confrontation – between profit and responsibility.

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the journey to meaning Soci a l w ea lth, inner beau t y a nd the au then ticit y of ex per ience

beau t y is a n ex per ience

And here social justice will become, like sustainability, the new paramount virtue. The concept of social justice is still somewhat in thrall to interpretations that emerged from the 19th century, from the workers’ movement and from the social issues of that time. But these no longer seem to me to be entirely relevant to the modern age. People recognised a long time ago that social responsibility does not conflict with profit but that it is actually a prerequisite for doing business successfully in the 21st century. As Peter Drucker put it, non-profit is the portal to profit in the 21st century. If you don’t go through this portal you won’t be able to do business successfully any more. A social profile is no longer a hindrance to profit, but a condition for it. Fundamentally, we have seen a reconciliation, like the one between ecology and business, between profit and social responsibility. Just as we have to grasp that environmental awareness will not endure if it forces business to its knees, so to speak, but only if it gives it a new space to operate in, I believe we also need to recognise

that social justice only stands a chance if rather than demanding an end to profit it offers a new arena for profit-making.

What influence might this new way of thinking have on individual people's lives? N.B. People who understand this change also recognise that it is tied to a change in their way of life. Just as environmental awareness implied a profound intervention in the way people arrange their lives, the idea of social justice will also have an extremely strong effect on lifestyles. But this will be voluntary, not forced by law or anything like that. It will happen simply because more and more people are making the amazing discovery that the accumulation of material wealth is actually hampering their journey towards self-fulfilment. This is the big lesson of recent decades: that the accumulation of private wealth has not taken people a single step forward in the search for their identity. It accords with one of Abraham Maslow’s concepts. He concluded that people who are doing really well, who inhabit the world of

luxury, need more than this. He called it the need for self-actualisation. I think this will be the big issue for consumption in the 21st century. It’s about doing something outside yourself, taking part in something beyond the self, be it a project, a mission, a vision or whatever. If you’ve had enough of traditional luxury, you can begin the journey into identity, or, to put it another way, the journey towards meaning. This explains things like “voluntourism”. People want to make a difference, make a small contribution to changing the world for the better. This often has very naive features, but I'm interested in the dynamic that underlies the whole thing and that has become evident in the luxury sector before just about anywhere else. This social dimension of luxury is accompanied by a very strong spiritual dimension. Without becoming too philosophical, suffice it to say that there are more and more people who would like peace, time or undisturbed space for themselves and for reflection. The whole “slow” movement is actually just a call for this sense of calm, which has a very

spiritual dimension. Taken together, the social and the spiritual constitute the real force that is taking us away from traditional material luxury.

You use terms like social and spiritual to describe the new luxury. Do you think this also has something to do with a different understanding of beauty? N.B. Yes, it’s basically similar to what we've already said. The ancient world had definitions of beauty that were much more demanding than the modern consumerist idea of beauty, which at heart is driven by the stereotypes of mass taste. To take an extreme example, consider the ancient concept of agalma. This is the idea that there are small statues in which the true figure is hidden; the external beauty hides a much more profound beauty. This was often meant in purely metaphorical terms, for example to express the fact that, thanks to his spirit and his understanding of life, a man as ugly as Socrates actually possessed a much greater beauty than the rather grandiose sophists that opposed him. The sophists talked more beautifully, in the trivial sense, and also, of course, outstripped Socrates in terms of their physical appearance and devotion to fashion. But the fact that a type of spiritual beauty – a beauty of experience you could call it – is ultimately more powerful and much more seductive than the

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familiar physical beauty is, I believe, a very strong leitmotif. This inner beauty, this beauty of a way of life, was superior to anything else and I think in many areas we are on our way back to the art of living as the Greeks understood it. It is no accident, then, that on the trivial level we have seen a lot of books being published on the art of living in recent years. Significantly, people are looking for a happier way to lead their lives; this has become more important because it can give life a beauty that simply cannot be achieved through cosmetic surgery. You could link the whole dilemma of the traditional way of thinking about beauty to the Americanism of cosmetic surgery and bodybuilding. Attempts to perfect the human body, which have dominated recent decades, have reached a limit. And as we have already seen with environmental awareness, I think we are now seeing a major turnaround towards this idea of inner beauty and the beauty of a way of life. Towards the concept of leading a life, rather than just living it; in other words, a genuine art of living. The concept of the “art of living” brings us back to an idea of beauty that leaves virtually no trace in terms of external, physical features. I’m now very optimistic about this because I think we have already started on this journey. There are lots of signs that it’s happening. There are definitely indications, at least, that the other projects, the materialistic

projects, are failing. You can see that people are stranded on the sandbank of their mortality and don’t know what to do any more. The only escape, the only way to refloat the ship, has to be spiritual.

But this spirituality and inner beauty can only be found by experiencing authenticity. Does that mean that it is increasingly important for travellers to discover things for themselves, to find something that opens the door to spiritual experiences and to inner beauty? Conversely that it is less and less about following the standardised paths and experiencing things that are already familiar? N.B. Of course. The only question is what “discover” really means. The word can imply an extremely risky approach to the world. When explorers went on their voyages of discovery, they were launching themselves into an unknown world full of potential danger and with no certainty about the eventual outcome. This isn’t the case anymore, fortunately. The world has been so thoroughly explored that there are no blank spaces left. Discovery can, therefore, only be a true discovery for myself as an individual. But the actual content of this discovery has, of course, already been preformed and prefigured. So if I discover something for myself, the authenticity of my experience is at

people recognised a long time ago that social responsibility does not conflict with profit but that it is actually a prerequisite for doing business successfully in the 21st century.

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the same time staged. “Staged authenticity” is a good way of describing it. Of course it’s a paradox, but actually we are all very familiar with the feeling of experiencing something authentic, new, surprising and life-enhancing, although we know the thing itself would never actually have happened without careful preparation. It would be asking too much of people if you only sold them the theoretical possibility of having an experience rather than the prefabricated certainty that they will experience something. To this extent, you have to keep in mind that when we talk about discovery, it always is – and has to be – a form of staged authenticity. If it wasn’t staged it would be too risky; and that’s the difference between tourists and explorers. I, like you, can see that tourists are getting ever more mobile, individual and multidimensional, but there's still a difference between Columbus and a modern traveller going to South America. And this difference lies in the security, the certainty; ultimately the staging.

i would define the tourist experience in terms of our ability to exist in a limbo between the security of the familiar and the experience of the unique. this can only be achieved through deliberate staging. These are, however, precisely the things that allow certain feelings to be felt in a way that simply wouldn’t be possible if conditions were genuinely dangerous. Like great excitement. Sociologists use the term “containment of excitement”: excitement occurs within a container, a secure framework within which we can actually be more carefree and experience much greater excitement than otherwise. I think this also applies to just about any form of tourist travel. If I didn’t have this secure framework, I would be far too anxious to actually get excited about anything or experience real enjoyment. I think that tourism has

a unique opportunity to create a happy balance between the lure of the new – the joy of discovery – on the one hand, but, on the other, the certainty that the experience will bring satisfaction rather than mortal danger.

You would claim, then, that people, for all the desire for the genuine, are not actually looking for true authenticity? N.B. Normal people are not philosophers and don’t worry too much about exactly how they are using the word authenticity. I think that for most people it's very obvious that the feeling of genuineness doesn’t have to be the same as absolute uniqueness or being the first to do something. If you find yourself watching some tribal ritual in the African bush, you are well aware that you are not the first person to visit the tribe. And if you take a jeep through the Serengeti, you know that thousands of other jeeps have gone before you. But that does not destroy this moment of authenticity. It actually defines the tourist experience; in fact I would go so far as to define the tourist experience in terms of our ability to exist in a limbo between the security of the familiar and the experience of the unique. And this can only be achieved through staging. Paul Theroux came up with the definition of holiday travel as “home plus” – like being at home but much better. This emphasises the security aspect, the framing aspect, while authenticity emphasises the aspect of the new, the surprising and the genuine experience. But people can easily override the knowledge that something is simply staged – it’s what happens every time a football fan goes to the stadium. The fact that travel can often prompt significant cognitive change too, altering people’s view of the world, is yet another dimension. But again the staging is part of what allows this to happen. You could also justify it like Wackenroder, who once talked of the “consolidation of those feelings that are scattered and lost in real life”. Our feelings are very diffused, and though we need large feelings, we can’t find a place for them in day-to-

day life. So we are grateful for stagings that consolidate these feelings, giving them contours, structure and form. And this is precisely what happens on a wellorganised experience holiday.

We have been a travel company for more than a hundred years now. Over this time we have helped shape the culture of travel and continually broken new ground. As innovators in the 21st century, how can we continue to help people "consolidate feelings"? N.B. Like any company in the travel business, Kuoni has to discover undiscovered continents. In a world that has been thoroughly explored, however, the question is where this next undiscovered continent might be. It has to be a continent in another dimension, and very probably in a social dimension. So you need to look at other ways of living, ways that provide an alternative to the American way of life. Like these business executives who go to stay in monasteries, for example, because it’s an expedition into another way of life. It doesn't matter whether the monastery is in India or Bavaria. It’s all about the way of life you want to explore. A lot of people are looking at voluntourism these days because they want to make a difference as well as go on holiday. This is another way of achieving a very different form of contact with the world. So these are the new continents that are being discovered. And of course this fits very well with our initial ideas about the spiritual and social dimensions of luxury. It definitely makes sense for a travel company to ask itself: where have people not yet gone to? We’ve already been to the moon, so it now remains for us to explore this intangible continent.

And how can Kuoni get people excited about travelling to this undiscovered continent? N.B. I strongly believe that it won’t be through one-way communication, i.e. through traditional advertising or marketing. These days you can’t just tell customers about the great ideas

and projects that you have. Ultimately you have to try to prompt communication from the customers and potential customers and insert yourself into this communication so that you can use it to make your claim credible. So, the advertising for your products has to come from your own customers. And that it is why it is so vitally important to think about how you can make platforms available for this type of communication. You have to accept the lessons the internet has taught us. And the first of these is that profile has to come before profit. You can only do profitable business if you first have a profile that you can communicate credibly. Ultimately this means that before you can sell anything, you have to look after your communities. You have to nurture self-organisation among your customers and, to a certain extent, you have to use the famous reputation system that the internet has established to assess all areas of consumption and lifestyle. In the end you have to learn from your own customers. Best of all would be if you could build up communications structures between a brilliant idea and an organised feedback system. Instead of producing yet another know-it-all adver-

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tising campaign, this would simply allow you to say: “We learnt this from you!”

Can beauty and experience be used effectively and consistently as communications statements? N.B. Absolutely. I also think that great progress has been made in the use of the word “experience”. There are two words for experience in German “Erlebnis”, which dominated for decades, and “Erfahrung”. There is a huge difference between Erlebnis and Erfahrung. An Erlebnis experience is just a happening without consequences, whereas an Erfahrung teaches you something and can change your life. And that is what travel should be all about. Think about pilgrimages and educational tours in the classical sense – these are life-changing experiences. You can only really grow if you go outside, if you travel. If we take the true meaning of Erfahrung seriously we can get back to this original form of travel.

Which will then lead to inner growth and inner beauty? N.B. Without a doubt. And we really do

the social and spiritual together form the real force that is taking us away from traditional material luxury.

learn in life that we find people beautiful not because they meet traditional standards of beauty, but simply because they are cultivated, understand how to express themselves and know how to deal with situations. You feel good in their company and having anything to do with such people makes life better. It has always been true that the experience of travel educates you in this way.

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left Solidarity for the future of these children: A great number of Swiss people have supported the "Zeichen Setzen" campaign by adding their thumbprints. below Every time a holiday is booked from our India and Africa brochures, CHF 10.– go to aid projects run by our partner organisations.

A rt a nd f und-r a ising

make a mark We all share the responsibility for a better future. Kuoni wants to make a mark and, together with its customers, help preserve the beauty and diversity of our planet.

Our world faces many challenges, and the changing climate is undoubtedly a crucial one. However, the threat of global climate change should not blind us to our other important responsibilities, like fighting poverty, ensuring that everyone on earth has an adequate supply of clean water, improving medical services in remote and disadvantaged regions, maintaining the delicate balance of the natural world, and improving education for the poorest people on earth. As a globally active travel company, Kuoni is confronted with these challenges every day. This is why we feel a large obligation, but above all a genuine desire, to base our work on sustainable principles, as well as to support aid projects run by other organisations. Kuoni knows that we all need to act if we want travel to remain a natural part of our lives – if we want a world in which we can, with a clear conscience, continue to have invaluable experiences and encounters with other cultures, landscapes and lifestyles. Kuoni recognises the complexity of the challenge, which is why we’re deliberately not just concentrating on one area. As part of our extensive corporate responsibility efforts, we are working with various partners to tackle different issues in different parts of the world. The decisive factor in all the action initiated and supported by

Kuoni is sustainability. However, as a business Kuoni is keen to go beyond its own commitment to individual projects; it also wants to sensitise its customers and other people to specific issues, and encourage a sense of solidarity. Alongside its range of new holidays to Africa and India, for example, Kuoni initiated the “Gemeinsam Zeichen Setzen” (“Make a mark together”) campaign, which has collected money for aid projects run by our partners UNICEF, Caritas and Zurich Zoo, as well as raising a great deal of public awareness. “Gemeinsam Zeichen Setzen” is a two-part campaign. Firstly, for every person that buys a holiday from the new India and Africa brochure, Kuoni donates CHF 10.– to aid projects in India and Africa that help people to help themselves. For example, enabling children to get an education, actively protecting endangered species, creating jobs, setting up schools or provi ding medical supplies. But the campaign's name is also taken quite literally: Kuoni has collected thumb prints on square metal plates all over Switzerland. Various celebrities have “made their mark” along the way, like comedian and cabaret star Simon Enzler, who collected prints from people from all over the world at the top of Säntis, a 2 500 m mountain in Eastern Switzerland. Steve Lee, Bruno Kernen and

many others also lent a hand. The metal plates form part of an art project. When put together they form a huge map of India and Africa that bears the imprints of the countless people who wanted to show their solidarity and willingness to help. The plates are being auctioned off one by one, with the proceeds going to our partner organisations. With “Gemeinsam Zeichen setzen”, Kuoni has managed to bring its own exemplary commitment together with its customers’ desire to help

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The Kuoni Climate Tag will be available in June 2010 at www.kuoni-group.com.

k uoni clim at e project k uoni clim at e tag

save the beauty There’s a simple way for anyone to do their bit to preserve the beauty of the world. With their flagship project on Bali, Kuoni and myclimate show how we can deal with the environmental impact of travel and promote sustainability on various levels.

Against a background of climate change and the increasing pollution of our environment – some of which is caused by travel – Kuoni is particularly keen to support projects that make a genuine contribution to increased sustainability, thus helping to preserve the beauty of our world. Together with the climate protection organisation, myclimate, Kuoni is running a trailblazing waste processing centre in Bali that sorts and recycles around 50 tonnes of rubbish each day. The project is a fine example of sustainable development in that it addresses several problems on various different levels at once. People on Bali collect waste and sell it to the centre, which itself employs about 120 staff. Plastic, metal and other waste is recycled, while organic waste, which accounts for 85% of the total, is composted, thus avoiding greenhouse gas emissions. The recycling facility has provided a large number of Balinese with a living; but it is also reducing harmful emissions, and by

removing rubbish from the countryside, the rivers and lakes, streets and squares it is helping to create a nicer, more liveable and healthy environment on Bali. The waste facility is financed in two ways. Firstly, Kuoni itself makes contributions to the project to offset all the CO2 emissions from its own business flights. Secondly, we offer our guests the opportunity to offset the impact of their holiday flights by buying a myclimate ticket. Customers who buy a myclimate ticket get a luggage label that they can display to show their commitment to making a better future. “Save the beauty” is the message on the label, and we hope that this message is heard as widely as possible. The “beauty” that needs to be saved, however, goes beyond the natural world. For Kuoni, beauty means diversity, respect for others, improving living conditions for all people, richness of experience, as well

as humanity and solidarity. All of these things are also preconditions for responsible travel in the future. Kuoni lives up to its “Save the beauty” slogan by backing a variety of projects and encouraging its customers to support them too. We believe that this is the best way to make as many people as possible aware of the projects and thus ensure their long-term success. Kuoni hopes that its numerous commitments will not just provide active, direct help, but also make a mark that will encourage others and point the way to greater sustainability. This is why we support manageable, concrete projects with outcomes that can be directly measured and checked. Ultimately, if we want to achieve the long-term global goal of a better future, we have to start with the small steps that any one of us can take.

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beauty through sustainability

How inner h a r mon y a nd new va lues ca n m a k e a bet ter f u t ur e.

prof. mohan munasinghe as Vice Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He is the Chairman of the Munasinghe Institute of Development (MIND) in Sri Lanka, and Director General of the Sustainable Consumption Institute at the University of Manchester in the UK. We met him in Copenhagen during the UN Climate Change Conference, to talk about the complex challenges facing the world today, and about how we might tackle these and become more sustainable. Munasinghe believes that the key lies in the principles of beauty and harmony, and that these apply to travel too.

Prof. Munasinghe, we meet here in Copenhagen on the occasion of COP15, the global climate change conference. Climate change is undoubtedly the environmental issue which currently attracts the most public attention. But shouldn't we be looking at other issues too when discussing the challenges for the future? M.M. We should broaden the discussion, because climate is only one of many problems we face. You have a financial meltdown, problems of persistent poverty and inequality, imminent resource scarcities, health problems, pandemics and, of course, other very severe environmental problems that have nothing to do with climate change. So we know weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in deep trouble. We have to deal with the whole range of problems and we have to be smart enough as a human race to find integrated solutions to address them. Because trying to solve

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the climate problem at the expense of other problems – like poverty – is not the right way.

trying to solve the climate problem at the expense of other problems is not the right way. Why has no one begun to really change things yet? M.M. Increasingly, governments and leaders are showing themselves incapable of solving these problems. Governments and leaders alone do not seem to be leading. I think the people of the world, and particularly the young people and the responsible media, are pushing hard, but somehow the message is not getting through. And that’s where I believe that the people, basically civil society, have to get up and say, “We want to change these things, and if you want to be re-elected this is the direction to go in!” Business can help governments. It can push world leaders in the direction of sustainability. A company like Kuoni can play a huge role in this change.

You mentioned a lot of the problems we face. But what are these integrated solutions that will help us solve them? M.M. In the early nineties I developed a framework called Sustainomics. The idea – which seems to me to be very timely now – is to empower people. They feel helpless because the problems they see are huge and complex, and they ask themselves, “What can we do?” People are sceptical when their leaders promise that in five or ten years they will do this and that. The first principle of Sustainomics says: make development more sustainable. Instead of wasting time debating the finer points of sustainable development, act now to make development more sustainable. There are so many things in our immediate surroundings that are obviously unsustainable. When we leave this room and leave the light on, it’s unsustainable. If you switch the light off, you make development more sustainable. If you see some rubbish on the road, picking it up makes development more sustainable. It’s empowering because these are simple actions; there are a whole range of things that we can choose to do today.

It’s like climbing a mountain. The peak is the ultimate goal of sustainable development. It’s covered with clouds, and we can’t see it. But if you take one step at a time, and as long as you climb upwards, you know you will get there. And this climbing also gives us more enthusiasm, which I find resonates very much with young people. We want to use the passion, which is a form of beauty in a sense, for constructive purposes. Individuals can practise this approach, but so can a company like Kuoni.

An action like switching off a light bulb is simple to understand. But there are other, more complex situations where it isn't so easy to decide whether an action is sustainable or not. M.M. That is the second principle of Sustainomics. Again it’s more operational. At the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, I proposed a sustainable development triangle that has social, economic and environmental dimensions. The balance among these three dimensions is important and will vary depending on the community or country. Of course the economic dimension is very important, especially for the poor, but we have to make income growth and economic de-

velopment more sustainable. The social aspect is more subtle, and less well defined. At the community level it involves building social capital, which is like the glue that binds the community together. On the environmental side, you have a clear message: minimise the depletion of natural resources and the environmental pollution that results from development. So we have to consider all three sides of the triangle, and that gives us an operational rule. You can use the triangle to test any policy because you can now ask, “Will this action I am proposing to take make development more sustainable or less sustainable?” The third principle is a little more abstract and deals with human thought processes. It says that to move forward we must transcend the unsustainable thinking of the past, and the most important point is changing human values – especially among the young. We went through a period of twenty years or so when the philosophy was: use now, pay later. These outmoded ideas must be changed to more sustainable values like altruism and enlightened self-interest. Furthermore, we must transcend the boundaries of traditional disciplinary analysis to find innovative solutions to

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the complex problems of sustainable development and climate change that cut across conventional disciplines. Boundaries between different stakeholders need to be overcome to ensure data sharing, transparency and cooperation. Finally, we should transcend the barriers of time and space – thinking in terms of centuries and spanning the entire planet. And the last principle is: if we want to operationalise this concept of sustainable development, we have to apply a variety of practical full-cycle tools. We need to examine the full operational cycle from initial data gathering to practical policy implementation, monitoring and feedback. When we look at all our products and processes, the analysis must cover the entire value chain. Companies always do this when setting prices. We have to force ourselves to do the same thing for the social and environmental aspects. That will help us decide which products, services or processes are more sustainable, and which are less.

It seems that we have to change a lot. Is there still space for enjoyment, despite the changes required to bring about sustainable development?

sustainability does not mean that life becomes grim.

M.M. Yes. I now come to beauty. Sustainability does not mean that life becomes grim. Life should be beautiful in the sense that you look forward to each day and ask, “What can I contribute, what is my place in the universe?” Sustainability is part of saying, “I am redefining my mental parameters so that the things I do are more in harmony not only with the natural environment but with the social as well.” We have forgotten this skill because our concept of wellbeing has become too tied up with material wellbeing – which moves away from the concept of beauty. It is mistakenly replacing satisfaction through the perception and enjoyment of beauty with satisfaction through material goods. Of course some of these material things may be beautiful like a fantastic piece of artwork. But what I am saying is that beauty is an intrinsic thing and it is very much part of your value system. So, when you move towards sustainability, you change your value system so that your outlook is much more positive and you see the value and the beauty in many things that were not relevant before. The rich don’t have to give up their good life in order to be more sustainable. They just have to move away from a quantity-based approach to a

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quality-based approach. So instead of having five TV sets and this and that, you can have other types of services that give you the same experience, while doing much less damage to the environment.

So beauty is a state of being? Yes, the concept that beauty is in the eye of the beholder is very important to me. It is very important to develop this sense of inner harmony, this inner balance. If your life is too rushed, it becomes disjointed. You have to have the inner balance and inner harmony to offset the pressures of modern life and rediscover the sense of beauty. If you grow spiritually and you look at the world this way, it shows you beautiful things in surprising ways. If you are rushing and asking how to make another million on the stock market, I think you are missing the point. Sustainability involves a sense of overall harmony, not just harmony with nature – knowing your place in the universe and feeling comfortable with your contribution to that synergy.

Would you agree with Kuoni’s statement that beauty is an experience? M.M. To a certain extent yes, I mean it is hard to explain but certainly it is experiential because beauty is an interaction of the senses and it is not wholly confined to large material accumulations. Some of it is material of course, especially if you acquire something that is beautiful, which you enjoy looking at. But if you look at it and know it has caused a lot of other kinds of damage and disharmony in the world, you might be less thrilled with the whole experience. So what you perceive is beautiful because of what you have inside yourself as a framework. And if your framework is disjointed because of your lifestyle and other things, then what you see as beautiful may in fact not be so harmonious – for me harmony and beauty go very closely hand in hand.

you have to have inner balance and inner harmony to offset the pressures of modern life and rediscover the sense of beauty. If we follow your philosophy I wonder if we can still travel with a clear conscience in future, since transport causes damage to the environment.

be harvested, as a crop. So it is not just the carbon compensation. Those who say, “No travel, no carbon!” have missed the point. I am also doing something socially, economically and environmentally to make the world a better place. So I am solving several problems at the same time. That’s the balance, that’s the harmony.

You talk about inner balance and inner harmony, which is a human experience. What does that mean for a company like Kuoni?

M.M. Transport is essential. Whether it harms or supports the environment, whether it is good or bad for the economic and social aspects – human beings have to travel. But if our values are in harmony, we will find it quite easy to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle with regard to travel too. I’ll give you an example. I travel a lot. How do I deal with the environmental damage that travelling causes? I have already cut down my travel by almost 50 %, using the phone, internet, Facebook, Twitter, and video conferencing. But when we keep in mind that transport is essential and people want to travel, what can we do? Let’s look at the triangle. I am working with a company in Sri Lanka which manages a forest. We calculate how much carbon a trip causes and I pay for it. I get a carbon certificate and they send me a photograph with the tree they planted; it is going to be there for the next 20 years or more to absorb the carbon I put out. Many environmentalists say this is the way the rich pay for their sins. Not entirely – because I have visited the plantation. There are poor farmers who actually manage the plantation and many of them have young children. They go to school, they have clothes and food because of that entire program. So there is a social benefit. Also, we know that those trees are an important watershed for a river that is flowing there. So there is an environmental benefit. And there is certainly an economic benefit in the sense that those trees will eventually

him or her, or you can replace a particular material resource with something else. The value change is actually twofold. One is internal. But the other part of this value change and transcending barriers is outside. And you are doing that. By showing what Kuoni is doing in terms of sustainability to the outside world, you are also reaching out and telling your consumers and clients that this is the right direction to go in – you are leading in a sense and encouraging sustainable tourism. And you can also do it more explicitly through advertising.

M.M. Whatever business you do will use resources. So what would I tell the Kuoni Board? I would tell them: if you follow the four principles of Sustainomics from management down, your employees will feel more committed – they will feel they can make a difference, working from the bottom-up. I mean, many companies have a corporate responsibility program, but sometimes it is just PR. So the commitment must be there so that you can make development more sustainable, so that you are not waiting for governments or somebody else to tell you what to do. And it is also important that you not only do market surveys of consumers to see what they like and dislike; you must lead them too. The bottom line is certainly also important. If you can’t satisfy your shareholders, you are not sustainable. So you have to look at the financial profits, while at the same time taking care of your social responsibilities to your employees and the community at large. And you should particularly consider the value chain because a lot of companies, including Kuoni, have their services built up of links from many different countries and sources. You have to look at that whole chain and systematically examine the environmental and social consequences, not only a single aspect. Use the triangle and look at the three dimensions. You will be surprised to find where the sensitive spots are. Maybe you can change a particular supplier, have a word with

So you are optimistic that we can change to a more sustainable life without giving up the good life – including travelling with a clear conscience?

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M.M. Yes, that is where beauty comes

M.M. Yes. You always need to meet basic

in again. Sustainability is not suffering. Because the opponents of sustainability – who I think are misguided and who are mainly the privileged – want to protect their world as they see it. So they are opposed to change. But they don’t understand that maybe they themselves are not very happy people because of the values they cling to – full of angst and concern they will lose what they have because it is material. But if we value harmony and beauty, these are things which you can share, which you don’t lose by sharing.

needs, especially if you are poor. But often, giving up excessive material consumption will also increase satisfaction.

So giving up some material accumulations can make us even richer?

harmony and beauty are things which you can share, which you don’t lose by sharing.

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ga nges ex pedit ion 2009

gaṅgā 2 521 kilometres in inflatable dinghies along the Ganges, India’s Holy Mother. The members of the Ganges Expedition experienced an extraordinary journey from the frozen heights of the Himalayas down to the Bay of Bengal. The river presented itself at its most beautiful, but also showed its wounds. The journey was an adventure and an expedition full of lessons that the participants will never forget.

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left The sketched map gives little clue to the challenges that await the expedition.

Last year Kuoni took part in a unique and spectacular expedition along the Ganges. Travelling in inflatable dinghies, an international team led by Swiss adventurer Andy Leemann navigated the river from its source in the frozen heights of the Himalayas to its delta on the tropical Bay of Bengal. This extraordinary journey of 2 500 kilometres through the heart of India was punctuated by memorable encounters with a fascinating country, full of beauty, joy and depravation; full of experiences that deeply affected each of the participants and sent them home changed. But the expedition also drew attention to the perils faced by the Ganges and engaged intensively with the threats to the river’s sensitive natural balance, as well as with climate change, water scarcity and social issues, sometimes in places whose inhabi tants had never seen white people. The expedition was also backed by the WWF and the charity Green Cross, with which Kuoni has already worked for several years on various projects and journeys; and there were many reasons why Kuoni was so keen to support this one. Firstly

Kuoni wanted to learn things from the participants – about an extreme form of travel, about the uniqueness of individual experiences, about the spiritual dimensions of travelling and, of course, about connections and ideas that might open up new approaches to travel in the future. At the same time, the expedition presented an opportunity to create greater awareness of the scope for sustainable tourism in India and to gain a new perspective on the diversity and beauty of a country that has felt like a second home to Kuoni for many years and with which it feels a very strong emotional connection. Precisely because of this connection Kuoni wanted above all, however, to use the expedition to raise awareness of the social and ecological problems associated with Mother Ganges, the holy river of India. Things like the shrinking of the Himalayan glaciers that play such a vital role in supplying water to some of the earth’s most populated regions; or the pollution of a river that represents the only source of drinking water for countless communities along its banks. As well as bringing the general public’s attention to these issues, the expe-

dition also offered a unique opportunity to collect data and photographs and thus document the state of the river along its entire length. The Ganges Expedition touched on some important issues for the future of travel – issues that go to the heart of our responsibility to the natural world and to our fellow humans in all corners of the earth. This responsibility is not just borne by Kuoni as a travel company; it is a responsibility that anyone who travels or takes a holiday increasingly has to be aware of.

below An awesome backdrop for a tea-break as the adventure begins.

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gaṅgā

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The pace had to be maintained on the muddy waters of the Ganges if

each stage of the trip was to be completed on time.

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An inhospitable place to wash: coping with extreme conditions on the roof of

the world is part of these people's culture.

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Water collected at the source of the Ganges is returned to the river

at its delta â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a moving ritual for members of the expedition.

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Idyll on the river: despite the pollution, the Ganges remains the centre of life

for countless Indians, most of whom have no choice in the matter.

 BEAU T Y IS A N EX PER IENCE BR A ND R EPORT 2009

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Up in the wild gorges of the Himalayas there is no clue that the Ganges will

meet the sea at one of the world's largest river deltas.

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6 ex per iences

t r av elling t he ga áš&#x2026;gÄ

wor ld pr em ier e 09/13/09 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 10/19/09 Five weeks on the Ganges in a rubber dinghy brought countless surprising and unforgettable experiences on and nearby the river. Journalist Helge Bendl delivers his vibrant report on the expedition, describing the personal challenges, the extraordinary encounters, the benefits of doing without, and the value of helping.

Where the wild mountains are: the Himalayas have always been a dream destination for travellers who are tired of civilisation and want to experience nature on a grand scale.

Birth and baptism all at once. That’s what the first encounter feels like. Nothing and nobody can prepare you for the intensity of experiencing it for yourself. Neither the initial shock, nor the exhilaration that kicks in after that. This is where the holy water is, where everything begins. Water as liquid ice. Sharp as a knife and so cold that you can’t even taste how pure it is as it springs from its thousand years locked in the Himalayan glaciers. Your tongue protests at the first sip and goes numb; your throat rebels at the sting. The cold is like a vice. As soon as you take your shirt and trousers off it has you firmly in its grip. And when you step into the river formed from all those millions of melted drops, muster all your courage and immerse yourself entirely, the world stands still. For just a millisecond your heart stops – but that’s enough to bring you back to your senses, jump back out of the icy river, gasp for breath, open your tightly shut eyes and wildly shake off your glaze of water. Light caresses your face, the sun warms your skin. A steel-blue sky arches over everything, and in the distance glitters the 6 543-metre-high Shivling: the Great Lord Shiva in rock form, from whose crown of snow the water flows down, through the god’s hair to the earth, according to the Hindu creation myth. For Hindus, bathing in the icy waters of the newly formed Ganges at 4 000 metres is a sacred act. And for other visitors it is a chance to experience at first hand the full intensity of the Himalayas’ elemental power. But whereas we might like to revel in the notional emptiness and purity of the landscape, it doesn’t take long before you notice that other forms of life have other ideas, springing up, adapting and thriving even here. You develop an eye for the birch trees clinging to the rock, white sentinels sticking up into the sky; and for the Bharal sheep that graze perfectly camouflaged between the cliffs and occasionally lock horns. Isolation has helped the mountains preserve their soul. The helicopter tours have not yet reached the roof of the world and most visitors approach gently and respectfully, aware that the journey, not the summit, is the goal. For the mountains and the way they see time, we humans are presumably transient, fleet-

ing things. Too out of breath and moving too quickly to understand that they can see us, accompany us and even converse with us. Whether barefoot pilgrims in saffron robes, or visitors from a far-off land, kitted out with the latest high-tech gear, we disappear again almost as soon as we have delivered our greeting. Back into the valley, down into the civilisation that we were briefly able to escape. Not even the holy men living in the caves can last all that long without company. Only one person dares to make a genuine rendezvous with the mountains and with solitude. For five months a year for the last decade, when the winter snows block the path along the bubbling Ganges and the thermometer in front of his shack reads minus 22 degrees centigrade, Roshan Lal holds the fort at Bhojbasa Camp. Measuring the temperature, cloud cover, wind direction and speed, volume and type of precipitation at 3 800 metres. At 8.30 in the morning and 5.30 in the evening he gets up from his blanket-covered bunk to read the data and radio it down to his colleagues in the valley – very technical and brief, his only communication with the outside world. The 32-year-old tells us that the solitariness can sometimes become dizzying. Perhaps it’s then that the mountains finally begin to speak. Such end-of-the-earth places have become rare on an increasingly crowded planet, which is why, in those times when we tire of civilisation, we are so eager to find them. We long for the space that allows contemplation – in the waterless void of the desert or up in the mountains where traces of our predecessors are quickly lost in the snow. Where we can still experience nature on a grand scale and there is nothing to distract us from its study. The dedicated traveller is liberated by this “notness”, this absence of the things that usually seem so important. Here, at least, you are your own master, able for a few days to drop out, switch off and be unreachable. In the evening, when you close the zip of your sleeping bag, happily exhausted after a long day of walking, you can close the doors in your head against everyday cares. Secure up here with only the wild mountains and the sky for company. And below, in the valley, India awaits.

arrival

The “other” is always exotic, and in India the amazement is mutual when travellers and locals dare to approach each other.

Early in the morning, when the sun is still summoning up its power and the land is lit in minor tones, they suddenly appear. Rubbing the sleep from our eyes we see them standing on the shore – a group of men, one with a transistor radio. Initially they cast timid, fleeting glances at us; a careful sounding out of the new and unknown that soon gives way to astonished staring. There is no hostility in the general expressions of amazement and the quiet commentary that you can’t really understand. The murmured Bengali seems a friendly soundtrack to proceedings. Everything we do in our just-woken trance seems to be interesting to our visitors: how we crawl one after the other from our tents, how Andy uses the boat-pump to kindle the previous evening’s embers into a new fire, how Leo empties oil into the petrol canisters, and how Jaja cuts a papaya. Nothing escapes our x-ray-eyed visitors as they edge closer. “Give the people a bit of peace,” Zorba finally says. “Let us just look,” says a man. “You’ll be gone in an hour anyway.” Is that how the story went? Early in the morning, when the sun is still summoning up its power and the land is lit in minor tones, they suddenly appear. Rubbing the sleep from their eyes we see them creeping out of their tents. They must have arrived late yesterday evening. Why didn’t they want to stay the night with us in the village? We would have invited them! We would have welcomed them gladly, fed them the best of the best and maybe asked them a few questions. Like: where have they come from with their orange boats? Where are they going? And why are they sleeping here in tents on the shore, away from where the people live but right where our buffalo graze? Don’t they like music, or why are they all so quiet? Look how the thin man kindles the fire! A papaya for breakfast? Can that be right? And is that the new fashion for women – trousers and a t-shirt instead of a sari? If we go a bit closer we might see what they’ve got in their tents. “Give the people a bit of peace,” says one of the group. “Let us just look,” one of us replies. “You’ll be gone in an hour anyway.” Or is that how it was?

The “other” is always exotic. To travel is constantly to be reminded that the world is much bigger, more exciting and more mysterious than you could imagine when you’re at home. Travelling means constantly feeling child-like amazement as you really see things, rather than just observing them. But for the full experience, it can’t just be a cultural one-way street. In India and elsewhere you have to open not just your eyes, but your whole being to interaction with others. Amazement often has two sides. Who is watching who? Who is the object, who the subject? The language barrier can often prevent people from getting closer to each other’s way of seeing things. But the smiles that are still conjured up in the end, by the efforts everyone is making, show that connections can still be made. You don’t have to be perfect and infallible in these situations. You can get things wrong and be as clumsy as a child. If the goodwill is there, much can be forgiven. If you travel as a foreigner with Indians through India, they will keep you from the worst transgressions, making sure you don’t insult the holiest cows by mistake. And as your senses become more attuned you will one day start to see the unfamiliar country through the eyes of your companions. At the same time they will start to be amazed at how they are suddenly rediscovering their homeland. Travelling without the eternal cultural guilt, without the constant pressure to see the sights means that you take time for seemingly peripheral things that actually end up being your fondest memories. Where is there an official itinerary that says you will go to the house of Rakesh Kumar Singh, who you meet along the way, and learn from his Aunty Rakhi how to roll out chapattis properly – a few dozen at a time? Who could have planned that the best teastop of the whole journey would be the one when we interrupted the children doing their homework in the village and ended up having a drawing competition with them on their slates? You come back feeling enriched and having left behind more than just footprints. Curiosity and openness have always been the best route to great discoveries. On both sides.

curiosity

III

Just an ego trip into misery? When you’re travelling, you can also give something back to the country you are visiting, and help to heal a holy river.

In the heart of India. They show you the way without having to be asked. If they can swim there, the water’s going to be deep enough for the inflatable dinghies that follow these hosts like a string of pearls, bend after bend down the mighty Ganges. The rare creatures swim, invisible beneath the brown waters of the huge river. And they can’t see us either because their eyes have no lenses. Every now and then they surface to take in air, snorting and puffing like a steam engine, sometimes even waving one of their great fins. “So elegant, so beautiful, so different – no wonder the fishermen think of them as holy beings,” says Sandeep Kumar Behera, normally so jovial, but now suddenly introverted and reflective. He is the coordinator of the dolphin protection programme at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). His team has managed to secure the survival of the rare Ganges river dolphin – so far only one 165-kilometre-long stretch, but hopefully one day his concept will be extended to the whole river. Elsewhere the elusive mammal is threatened with extinction, but here, between Bijnor and Narora, the population is growing. The holy river at its most alluring. In the heart of India. The air is full of choking smoke – because there’s a rubbish tip burning on the shore. The river often smells like a sewer because whole villages use it as a toilet. Even worse is the filth you can’t see or smell. Heavy metals from industrial waste water, pesticide residues from agrarian monocultures. There are only a few sewage works. With 20 000 to 100 000 pathogens in every hundred millilitres of water, the

Ganges flows on to Bengal, despite the fact that the Environment Ministry prescribes a maximum of 500. Up in the Himalayas the once mighty Gangotri glacier is retreating further and further, probably as a result of global climate change. In the lower reaches, the water is diverted away from the Ganges to satiate thirsty cities. “The pressure on the river is increasing,” says Shailendra Singh, a scientist and an expert on the subcontinent’s great rivers. The holy river at its most terrible. High in biodiversity, but itself threatened with extinction. Revered as a holy river, but abused by its worshippers every single day. Many NGOs work tirelessly and successfully on projects designed to help the river, but the telling blow is yet to be struck. On the Ganges you experience two sides of the same coin; and if, like the Ganges Expedition, you open your eyes to both sides, you can learn and you can help. If you visit a slum in one of the world’s megacities, volunteer to help children, learn about the consequences of nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, or travel on the river that India recently designated its “National River”, you are not merely taking an ego trip into misery. Doing good does not mean you have to deny yourself and exist in a permanent state of dogged determination. If you travel in an environmentally sustainable way and if ethics and social justice guide your dealings with local people, you don’t just gather experiences. Through your attentiveness to the problems and your concrete help, you can also give a lot back.

giving

Testing the limits: the only definite things are the start and the end; in between there is only improvisation. An expedition is more than an adventure trip.

Someone stopped time here. No, they turned it back. The ants’ nest of the city has disappeared with its noisy traffic, countless people and all the hectic activity of modern life. No more stink, no more cramped conditions as we move into a new scene, where the only sound is the sonorous drone of the outboard motor. A few kilometres on from the pilgrimage city of Haridwar you are taken back to another age. Having encountered no one for a long time, a farmer appears on the shore with a cart full of reeds, pulled across the fields by two white zebu cattle. Like a Caspar David Friedrich still life. Between us and the brooding foothills of the Himalayas in the hazy distance, lie nothing but fields in various shades of monsoon-drenched green. What starts so abruptly here is the overture to a panoramic film, a three-dimensional movie lasting 2 521 kilometres. Stretching in front of us, our challenge and our goal for the next few weeks: the river that came down from the heavens. We are embarking on a journey into the unknown: despite the GPS and the satellite images and months of preparations, nobody knows for sure what is waiting round the next bend. What actually is round the next bend, and the next and the next after that, turns out to be by far the greatest problem we encounter for many hundreds of kilometres. Something far worse than all the concerns we had been discussing with each other. It isn’t an animal, large or small, or rapids or waterfalls that stop the boats from going on. And we were never robbed or threatened. The problem is that the holiest of all Indian rivers doesn’t have enough of what it needs above all else: water. The waters of the Ganges are diverted away very early on in its course to slake the thirst of the cities, the industries and the farms. You can read about how the river has been turned into a stream, and you can be disturbed by films on the subject. But it is something else to experience this drama at first hand. The river all but dries up after its very first weir, before winding its way in mere rivulets

though a landscape of gigantic sandbanks. Where the mighty Ganges once ran, the water trickles through at no more than half a metre at its deepest point. Not even enough for the flatbottomed inflatable dinghies: their motors and hulls stick out above the water. There is no time to undress: at the skipper’s unwelcome command we all jump into the stream, pull the fully laden boat across the rocks and sand, haul ourselves out – and then after a few metres get back into the water again. The manoeuvre is repeated a hundred times over, day after exhausting day. On top of this, of course, the tables don’t lay themselves, and the camps don’t build themselves. And the water filter only works if you use your muscles to press the brown soup of the river through the membrane. It all tires you out, especially after a long day in the sun. But continually mucking in again, achieving something together as a team always has the same end result – a feeling of euphoria that you would never get if you were a mere passenger instead of being the architect of your own fortune. Surmounting obstacles takes nerves and energy. But ultimately, when you have successfully resisted every adversity, the difficulties are forgotten, except as material for campfire tales. Of course it all gets a little easier, more relaxed, more comfortable, and soon you aren’t dreaming half so often of Swiss chocolate and a massage with aromatic oils. But an expedition is always an extreme. And not every traveller looking for discoveries wants to, or needs to, throw out quite such a heavy load of creature comforts before jumping into a dinghy. But this kind of tour is still luxurious: the luxury of doing without can be just as rare, extravagant and coveted as traditional luxury. These days, the bare essentials are sometimes scarcer, rarer and more expensive than the superfluous. Doing without is not just about deprivation – it also gives you something new.

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1001 nights away from my bed. Far away from home, sleeping in an unfamiliar environment becomes a bewitching experience.

Silence all around. Hanging like a dark curtain over an unspoilt landscape. Nothing seems to stir; emptiness reins. Everything is holding its breath tonight. Even the insects have finished their evening concert. Only the occasional breath of wind makes the tarpaulin flutter briefly before silence descends again. It’s so quiet that you wake up and look about, confused, just to check that there really is nothing out here but you and the vastness of the natural world. But the only things moving now are the slow river at the end of the sandbank and the shooting stars slicing through the bejewelled night sky. After a magical night camping on the Ganges, you feel cleansed of the mediocre overnight stays you sometimes get when travelling. You don’t have to stay in broom cupboards, uninspiring “guest” houses or those interchangeable, soulless establishments that call themselves hotels. If the service comes naturally, smiles don’t cost extra and pleasure is not frowned upon, it can be wonderful to be away from home and in the middle of 1001 nights. With the right host and the right accommodation even a short tour can become a completely perfect dream trip. Especially if you have left home looking for one thing in particular: the authenticity of the unique. To feel completely at home. That’s what we long for even when we’re far from familiar surroundings and travelling from strange bed to strange bed. It’s the secret that professional ho-

teliers have been trying to crack since time immemorial; sometimes they manage, sometimes they don’t. But it seems so simple, as Mirza Afzal Beg can demonstrate: as a member of the Ganges Expedition crew it is an honour for him to be able to invite the whole team to his parents’ house. His home village is only a few kilometres away from the giant river. It would be hard to beat the way he offers not only the wooden four-poster in his old bedroom but the whole house to us, the reserved but passionate way he looks after his guests. No matter that you are in a faraway village in the middle of India; when someone cares for you in such a heartfelt way, you sleep the sleep of the just. As Ecclesiastes tells us, the sleep of the labourer is sweet, and when you’re on a six-week tour along the Ganges you certainly sleep well after the strenuous days. You don’t even need a tent to go to bed happy. A camping mat below you and four paddles to support a mosquito net – all the protection you need from the attentions of greedy night creatures (thankfully there are no crocodiles). After many hours travelling in a boat down the mighty river, the sun disappears like a ball of fire below the horizon, and the sand powders your feet like flour. A cooling breeze conjures itself up and the opposite bank fades into darkness. Insects hum their lullabies, close enough to sing us to sleep, but just far enough away from our pink European skins. A summer night’s dream – but do you know what? This one will carry on even after we wake up.

sleep

The stomach is a reliable guide: it’s still the way to the heart, even in India’s furnace – as long as you don’t mess with the ghost chillies.

Shaking my head was the first mistake. In India it means yes, so the waiter at the little restaurant put the pod on my plate alongside the vegetable samosa. There it lay, as big as a thumb and rather strange looking. Not smooth and shiny like the little African piri-piris. Or the prik kee noos from Thailand that look like red and green mouse droppings – which is precisely what their name means. Neither was it cherry-shaped like a habanero. Although it was “veeery fresh mister!”, it was wrinkled like an old toad. It would have been better to try it carefully, gently touched it to my lips to see what effect that had. But it seemed that the waiter wanted to hear the cooking praised, and he stood there so full of expectation that I bit in to it. And because the chilli tasted interesting – a little like fresh grass – after a short pause I bit again. And then again because the chilli was actually only as hot as a red pepper. That was the second, unforgivable mistake. First it tingled like that fizzy sherbet powder you filled your mouth with when you were a kid. A slight prickling and tickling, nothing too bad, only.... why is my nose itching now? My breathing is turning to liquid wax, singeing my nose hairs like bubbling lava. My mouth has caught fire, the cares of the world are building up behind my eyes and my head can’t decide whether to react with a hot flush or a shivering fit. It eventually opts to go for both at once. “You never have problem with stomach again.” I think that’s what the waiter says, but his voice comes from very far away. Someone is trying to act as the fire brigade, but tea doesn’t help. Only the samosas, gobbled down in record time, can soften the pain caused by the dagger that seems to be stabbing me up and down my digestive tract. Until finally the pain

ebbs. I sit there, heart pounding, drenched in sweat from the catharsis. Somehow elated to have been part of a true ceremony of purification, even though it hadn’t exactly been on the menu. What you do find on the menu, the plate or the banana leaf is a variety of tastes that you simply would not expect if you only eat in those caricatures that call themselves Indian restaurants throughout the rest of the world. You should handle superlatives with the same care as a boomerang, because they can come back and hurt you, but India is the best place in the world to eat vegetarian food – whether you’re round the camp fire, making a spontaneous stop on the road or sitting in a fancy restaurant in one of the cities. If you have entered the realm of tastes delivered by masala chai you will start experimenting with tea as soon as you get home. If you have eaten fish in Bengal, you will plunder every delicatessen back home until you finally find that special mustard oil. The stomach is a reliable guide in India. There’s only one plant you have to watch out for, and that’s because it’s so hot it’s called a “ghost chilli”. It used only to be found in India, but now it’s also grown in the laboratories of the Chilli Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University: “bhut jolokia” registers a million on the Scoville scale. This is twice as hot as the previous hottest type – the Californian Red Savina – and precisely a million times hotter than a red pepper. But don’t be afraid, the queen of the furnace is easy to recognise: unlike other chillies it’s not smooth and shiny, but wrinkled like an old toad...

taste

their crew attracted attention all long the river.

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Cultures meet: the expedition's orange inflatable boats and

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Kolkata's markets are filled to bursting with bright colours and unfamiliar

scents that threaten to overwhelm the European visitor.

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The crumbling charm of its colonial past in the middle of Kolkata.

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After 2 500 kilometres, the expedition arrives in Kolkata. The relief

and pride about what they have done is written on the team's faces.

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lea r ning from ex t r em e ex per iences

in conversation

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Kuoni has a long tradition as a pioneering company that has helped shape the culture of travel. Because it wants to maintain this tradition now and into the future, Kuoni works continuously to discover new forms of travel, to understand what people are yearning for in the modern age and to learn from the experiences of travellers who have moved on from the traditional forms of holidaymaking. Unsurprisingly, then, Kuoni was very keen to engage as fully as possible with the people taking part in the Ganges expedition. After five weeks of extreme, extraordinary and exhilarating impressions, the adventurers gathered together one last time in Kolkata, their final destination, to report on their experience. The talk was of a new understanding of luxury, of sustainability and of the special features of expeditions like this that bring us closer to unspoilt truth than other forms of travel, and that facilitate unique experiences in harmony with nature and with ourselves. The meeting offered a remarkable platform for discussing some visions of the future of travel that were directly connected to the experience of the expedition, but also for talking about the practical limitations and difficulties that can arise along the way. Kuoni set up the Getaway Council in 2008 to host regular exchanges of ideas between futurologists, opinion leaders from business and academia, as well as outstanding figures from the worlds of fashion, lifestyle, art and culture. The aim is to understand the new desires and

needs of the modern age and explore the latest cultural and social trends; in other words to capture the zeitgeist and use the insights that are gained along the way to develop new ways of thinking about the world. By contrast, the meeting in Kolkata was much more focused on the practical aspects of travel. It provided Kuoni with another important source of inspiration, helping it to think today about the travel of tomorrow; and to learn at first hand about the possibilities for a sustainable tourism that prioritises authentic, respectful encounters with foreign cultures, people and landscapes â&#x20AC;&#x201C; facilitating experiences that travellers will increasingly perceive as the essence of beauty.

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a ndy leem a nn

“An expedition is always a challenge. On the other hand, for some people it might be a challenge to spend a week on the beach.”

a pa l singh

“...and a lot of things i see every day i saw for the first time because i travelled with other people.”

Jaja Vondruskova

“On an expedition you can’t have expectations. That’s kind of liberating.”

mon u singh

helge bendl

“You don’t only want to listen to the orchestra but talk to the musician. Local experts can offer unique experiences.”

“not taking a decision can be interesting.”

r emo m asa l a

“As human beings we tend to progress with every new trip – if we’re open enough.”

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thuk r a l & tagr a

Thukral & Tagra are internationally celebrated stars of the young Indian art scene. They have created five wonderful pictures exclusively for Kuoni that focus on dreams and travel.

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Thukral & Tagra are two of the highest profile members of a youthful art scene that burst out of India to have an impact all over the world. They are prime examples of artists whose work is unmistakeably rooted in the culture and aesthetic language of their homeland, but whose message is heard and understood by an international public. This cross-border appeal matches Thukral & Tagra’s boundary-straddling approach to art: they move with a playful lightness of touch between painting, video, graphic design, fashion and complex installations. Through their own charitable foundation, which they see as an integral part of their artistic endeavours, they also actively strive to meet their social obligations. Whatever subject they address – whether it’s modern patterns of consumption, the significance of brands in forming identities, AIDS education, or the primal human preoccupation with dreams – they integrate it into a brightly coloured dream world; a world characterised by a rare mix of high culture and reflective, ironic kitsch.

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& Tagra have made for Kuoni combine their own arsenal of images with photographs of the Ganges expedition, thus juxtaposing dreams and travel in a multilayered relationship. The underlying images are of the tireless movement on the river, and of arrival and stepping onto new shores, literally and metaphorically. In between, however, there is room for moments of peace, reflection and self-awareness. As well as the technology and machines, the photos are scattered with vegetation, flowers, plants, planes and animals. By combining images of different levels of reality and using misty washes of unnatural colour and a weightless perspective, the five works seem like indistinct, dreamy impressions whose beauty hints at something supernatural.

Whether they are very specific or completely unfocused, dreams prompt many of our journeys. Ideally, journeys fulfil existing dreams and fuel new ones. Travel and dreams are woven closely together, prompting each other in a continuous cycle. In Thukral & Tagra’s five pictures we see travellers accompanied, like every Thukral & Tagra’s work is unconventional, fresh and surprising, one else, by their desires and concerns, feelings and dreams. and it provides a multi-layered commentary on our times and on With their often hidden, only occasionally explicit sentiments, fundamental human themes. Working with the duo was particu- the meaning of the work is not entirely clear to us. Instead, their larly appealing to Kuoni against the background of the Ganges ex- dreamy images and lack of definite narrative offers a screen on pedition. In the wake of its brand repositioning over the last two which we can project our own feelings and longings. Ultimately years, Kuoni has sought closer links with the world of contempo- these pictures from the “Dream Generator” series keep throwing us back on ourselves. And because they revolve around rary art and culture. As a premium service provider ofgeneral human experiences and expectations, they fering innovative travel products, Kuoni wants to are potentially comprehensible to anyone, rework with the artists and creative people who gardless of cultural barriers. are shaping the cultural identity of our times and who, like Kuoni, think and operate outsomething But the specific compositional principle side conventional boundaries. Such links that sets up a tension between the ideal undoubtedly have plenty of potential can be really and the real also raises questions: How to stimulate new ideas about travel. But pretty and beautiful can the things I actually experience live there are also deeper parallels between even if it is very simple. up to my preconceptions about them? If art and travel, which lie in the nature of I’m only prompted to travel by a dream, individual experience, in encounters actually it’s all is the experience of the journey itself with the unknown and the surprising, about how you completely separate from this dream? And and in overcoming mental barriers. These so we come to the question of beauty. You connections are particularly interesting for understand it. can only experience true beauty if you are a travel company that is always seeking to open to the unknown and the surprising and if adapt its holidays to people’s changing needs, you are ready to let go of your preconceptions and and to continue shaping the culture of travel as see the world anew. Or if, when you are travelling, you it has done for the last century. Kuoni is also keen to don’t try to compare your experiences with your dreams but back artistic projects as a way of encouraging the creative potential, because creativity is crucial to the further development of let the reality guide you down other paths. our businesses and our society as a whole. Thukral & Tagra are artists who think and act globally but who Thukral & Tagra decided on a specific theme for their collabora- nevertheless always respect and nurture the cultural peculiarition with Kuoni; a theme they have already explored for several ties of their homeland. Their work is characterised by openness, years in their “Somnium Genero” series and that has many deep creativity, irony and communication across boundaries. With connections with travel: dreams. In their “Somnium Genero” – the works they have produced for Kuoni, Thukral & Tagra have “Dream Generator” – work, Thukral & Tagra use the raw material found some striking artistic expressions of subjects that Kuoni is of their childhood dreams and memories to create complex imag- working on intently as part of its work on the future of travel. For es, in which old fashioned telecommunications devices are used Kuoni, the collaboration with Thukral & Tagra was a fascinating as nostalgic triggers for discovering, dreaming of and creating experience. One that allowed a fresh and unconventional look at other realities. Machines floating freely in space symbolise child- some age-old subjects – dreams, travel and beauty. hood dreams of a different world. The five pictures that Thukral

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how k uoni uses its v isua l l a nguage to com municat e va lu es

the colours of a brand

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â&#x20AC;Ś subtlety and aesthetics play a crucial part in shaping the images. The luxury we're concerned with isn't about splendour and showing off; it's about values like quality, harmony, individuality and sensuality. Our concept picks up on these values and tells subtle stories about being free, about being in harmony with yourself and your environment â&#x20AC;Ś

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… the great challenge is to make the pictures seem as natural as possible. To get the greatest naturalness, you would simply make a fly-on-the-wall documentary about a random couple on holiday – but that's not feasible. So instead we work with two photographers who simultaneously take shots from different angles. This increases the number of very authentic-seeming pictures. It also helps that we were simultaneously producing a film of the shoot. The switch from the more static medium of photography to the motion of film encourages the models to move around naturally, which again gives us a higher return of good shots …

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... to communicate values we have to find the ideal representation of an abstract idea. This begins with the selection of models, clothes, props and locations. For all the naturalness we strive for, our photos are ultimately always artificial representations of reality. The colour design of the whole shoot plays a large part in creating its aesthetic. The challenge was to integrate the images into Kuoni's colour palette and especially to make the clothes and surroundings fit in perfectly with this scheme. Part of the concept, for example, was to use colourful tones from the Kuoni palette to supplement the earthy tones found in nature; another was to create beautiful tonein-tone variations. It was meticulous work involving lots of tiny details ...

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... the beauty of a good travel photograph lies in the sum of the visual elements and motifs: the right light, the right clothing and the right backdrops; and situations that move or surprise. Good pictures are not only aesthetic, they also have a deeper meaning and tell stories that we read on an emotional level â&#x20AC;&#x201C; like the story of a honeymoon. But we reduce the number of specific situations to the minimum required to actually recognise a narrative. The picture should communicate what's going on subliminally, leaving room for the viewer's own ideas. At the same time we have to empathise deeply with the situations and people in order to communicate the sense that we really know the characters, places and objects we depict. Only then can these elements reveal their full emotional power ...

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... when putting the pictures together we have to maintain a balancing act: we need a natural, authentic visual language that avoids the simplistic aesthetic of random snapshots; but also a high quality, stylised look that avoids being hyper-aesthetic ...

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... the beauty of the photographs should reflect the beauty of the moments we are recording. In this way, photography becomes a medium for visualising “perfect moments” – Kuoni's core value – on an almost metaphysical level ...

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... a more sustainable lifestyle â&#x20AC;&#x201C; an increasingly important aim these days â&#x20AC;&#x201C; means living in balance with yourself and with other people. Similarly, the resorts that we chose for the shoot are part of a new generation of luxury hotels that focus strongly on developing social values, on spirituality even, as well as on the desire for oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own space and for more attentive, individual service. Without being too explicit about it, we communicate these values subtly through the aesthetic of the pictures and the motifs we use ...

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... when the subject is service, for example, we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t show the usual scenes of people being served. Instead we show the hotel personnel as respected individuals with their own unique personalities. Taking these people seriously, and portraying them sincerely and aesthetically are further aspects of beauty. In the faces of these people we can read stories that can't really be written down ...

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... Berlin-based designer Michael Schickinger developed the concept for the 2009 photo shoot on the Seychelles together with Kuoni, and headed up the production as creative director.

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inspiration A tr av el agency th at a ppea ls to the senses

When Kuoni talks about beauty and experiences, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not just talking about unique holidays, and wonderful encounters on the road. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also referring to the things that happen before the holiday begins and that Kuoni pays more attention to than any other travel company: the preparation and the booking.

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Having already set up Flagship Stores in several countries over the last two years, all of which have set new standards in terms of aesthetics, in 2009 Kuoni redesigned its travel agency on Bahnhofplatz in Zurich, the company’s home town. Its two floors now offer customers a high quality and, even more importantly, inspiring ambience. Thanks to the materials used, the carefully chosen fittings, and beautiful design, the rejuvenated agency embodies Kuoni’s status as a premium service provider. Warm, earthy colours and highquality, hand-crafted furniture reflect Kuoni’s qualities: reliability, a long tradition of excellence and great experience. As in the imagery and design of its travel brochures, Kuoni has been guided by the zeitgeist, tapping into crucial developments in international design in a way that the travel industry has rarely done before. Quality, sustainability, peace, solidity,

openness, interaction, but also diversity and a respect for other ways of life: these are just some of the concepts expressed by this design language. An atmosphere is created that takes visitors out of the every day, and into a perfect place for calmly listening to advice or just gathering ideas for the next holiday. The lovingly selected decor offers plenty of potential stimulation – hand-picked craftworks from many countries are combined with books, photographs maps and everyday objects in inspiring displays that the visitor can pick up, feel, read and study. By providing a vibrant impression of possible holiday destinations in this way, the whole feel of the place sharpens the desire to travel. The travel agency at the Bahnhofplatz cele brates beauty as an aesthetic experience and puts particular emphasis on appealing to customers’ senses and emotions.

Fine materials and highgrade handicrafts from other cultures create an inspiring atmosphere that stimulates the desire to travel.

Design and furnishings by Armin Fischer in collaboration with Kuoni.

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innovation An offline and an online presence are ingredients in a concept that prioritises communication.

“Meine Agentur” is breaking new ground with the design of its premises, as well as with the many different forms of communication it uses. Armin Fischer developed the interior design together with Helvetic Tours, producing a youthful look and an open atmosphere tailored to appeal especially to younger people. In a specially designed bar area, guests are given a coffee and encouraged to chat informally with staff and other customers about their latest travel plans or past experiences. This idea of forming a community of travellers is seamlessly extended into the online world: “Meine Agentur” is very much of its time in the way it exploits the opportunities of Web 2.0. Communication, allowing the customer to have a voice, and stronger identification with a company are becoming increasingly important, and the internet is crucial to all three. “Meine Agentur”

and its services are aimed at people whose opinions are formed – and whose buying decisions are ultimately made – in this medium. Our customers can go online not only to check out holidays and exchange views about them, but also to offer their own new product ideas or suggest new destinations. All in all, Helvetic Tours offers its customers the opportunity to get much more actively involved than usual and to help shape the travel agency’s programme. With its online tools, “Meine Agentur” also functions as a think-tank, allowing Helvetic Tours to talk directly to customers and gather unfiltered feedback to help it with its work.

www.meine-agentur.ch

new for ms of di a logue

With its “Meine Agentur” agency, Kuoni’s subsidiary Helvetic Tours is introducing an innovative concept based on a progressive combination of offline and online brand presence.

The Annual Report is also available in German. Der Geschäftsbericht ist auch in deutscher Sprache erhältlich.

published by Kuoni Travel Holding Ltd. Corporate Communications Neue Hard 7 CH-8010 Zurich P +41 (0) 44 277 43 63 F +41 (0) 44 272 39 91 www.kuoni-group.com Design Stephan Beisser, Anna Döppl, Selina Bauer, Büroecco Kommunikationsdesign Photogr a phy Claus Brechenmacher & Reiner Baumann, Helge Bendl, Thomas Kalak, René Ruis Tex t & con ten t Rasmus Kleine, Helge Bendl Remo Masala | Kuoni project lea d Simon Marquard | Kuoni

Speci a l th a nk s to Lucy, Leisi, Gigi, Armin, Michelle, Adriano, Carmen, Peter, Ralph, Joel, Dominique, Beat, James, Jochen, Rena, Meike, lovely Lovleen and of course everyone else who loves our brand!

est.

1906

The Annual Report is also available in German. Der Geschäftsbericht ist auch in deutscher Sprache erhältlich.

published by Kuoni Travel Holding Ltd. Corporate Communications Neue Hard 7 CH-8010 Zurich P +41 (0) 44 277 43 63 F +41 (0) 44 272 39 91 www.kuoni-group.com Design Stephan Beisser, Anna Döppl, Selina Bauer, Büroecco Kommunikationsdesign Photogra phy Claus Brechenmacher & Reiner Baumann, Helge Bendl, Thomas Kalak, René Ruis T ex t & con ten t Rasmus Kleine, Helge Bendl Remo Masala | Kuoni project lead Simon Marquard | Kuoni

Speci a l th ank s to Lucy, Leisi, Gigi, Armin, Michelle, Adriano, Carmen, Peter, Ralph, Joel, Dominique, Beat, James, Jochen, Rena, Meike, lovely Lovleen and of course everyone else who loves our brand!

w w w.kuoni-group.com