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The World Economic Forum will not be held in the Grisons ski resort in early summer. Bürgenstock and Lugano should be at stake as possible alternatives.
It is not yet clear when and where the next annual meeting will be held: WEF founder Klaus Schwab.
Photo: Gian Ehrenzeller / Keystone
The next World Economic Forum (WEF) will not take place in Davos. The organizers of the meeting of high-ranking politicians and businessmen are negotiating with alternative venues, for example in Central Switzerland or Ticino.
The WEF around founder Klaus Schwab announced in late August that the 2021 World Economic Forum would not be held in Davos as usual on January 26-29 due to the Corona crisis. It was named in early summer 2021 as a possible alternative date. On Tuesday it was announced that a meeting would not be held in Davos at that time.
A possible alternative is the Bürgenstock Resort. Talks and negotiations with WEF officials are ongoing, said Nidwalden’s chief economic officer, Othmar Filliger (CVP), in an interview with Radio SRF’s regional magazine Zentralschweiz. The canton was asked. He was unable to say anything about the status of the investigations. According to the broadcaster, Lugano is also an option.
At the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency, Lugano city president Marco Borradori announced that WEF representatives were already in his city. They have inspected the infrastructures of the city such as the convention center and public spaces, as well as the hospitality businesses. Negotiations have yet to take place.
Tamara Henderson, president of the Hotel Gastro Davos, had previously confirmed a report in the newspaper “Südostschweiz”, according to which the Davos hotel industry had been informed in a letter from the WEF that the event would not run in early summer.
“We were a bit surprised by this letter,” Henderson of the Keystone-SDA news agency said on request. The hotel industry presented itself with a fait accompli. “We feel a bit left out and we want clarity in the near future,” Henderson said. The hotel industry is now concentrating on the year 2022.
Relocated 30 years ago
This letter to the hotels has changed nothing for the community, Community Secretary Michael Straub told the newspaper report. The community has assumed and continues to assume that the WEF will not take place in Davos next year if the corona pandemic does not improve. “Our next date is January 2022,” Straub emphasized.
The WEF reported that details would be released as soon as the health and safety of the participants could be ensured. The WEF last faced an unusual situation 18 years ago. At that time, due to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the protests announced for anti-globalization, the event did not take place in Davos for the first time in 30 years, but in New York.
