The European Travel Commission has announced the appointment of Pascal Prinz, Director Canada at Switzerland Tourism as the new Chair of ETC’s Canada chapter. Prinz’s commitment and hard work as Vice-Chair for ETC for the past 18 months earned him the support of ETC members, who entrusted him to steer the association’s activities in Canada in the upcoming two years.
Prinz has been the Director Canada and Trade Manager Central USA for Switzerland Tourism for two-and-a-half years. He also serves as a board member of the Swiss-Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
A marketing specialist with fourteen years of international experience in travel and public affairs, Prinz worked at Switzerland Tourism in New York as Trade Manager East Coast, as Trade Relations Manager (Europe) for the Swiss Ministry of Economic Affairs (SECO) in Bern and held positions with the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Embassies of Switzerland in Washington D.C. and Berlin.
He holds a Dual Master’s Degree of Arts in International Affairs and Governance (University of St. Gallen HSG and Sciences Po Paris), and a Certificate in International Business Management (Georgetown University, Washington D.C.). He takes over the position from Dana Welch, Manager for Canada at Tourism Ireland, who coordinated the association’s operations in the market for the past three years.
Taking over his mandate during these challenging times, Prinz will lead ETC’s activities to restore Canadian travel to Europe. He will leverage European destinations’ promotional activities by setting up effective platforms for cooperative marketing, access to market intelligence, exchange of best practices, cooperation and relationships between the Canadian and the European travel and tourism industry.
Prinz said, “This is obviously a very difficult year and it might take some time, but we will work hard to bring Canadians back to Europe. This pandemic will not stop the love of Canadians for Europe. I thank the European Travel Commission and its members for their trust. This appointment is a big honour for me. Travel & tourism is one of the largest industries worldwide, accounting for one in ten jobs globally. I look forward to navigating this crisis together with my European colleagues and to rebuilding jobs both in Canada and Europe.”
Canada ranks third among all out-of-region outbound travel markets to European destinations. 6.5 million travellers from Canada arrived in Europe last year awed by Europe’s diversity of landscapes, history, culture and culinary experiences. Tourist arrivals from Canada to Europe are currently forecasted to decline by an average of 35% in 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic.
Canada is among the short-list of non-European countries for which numerous European destinations have lifted travel restrictions. Travelers seeking information about current travel conditions in Europe are advised to consult the portal reopen.europa.eu.