Mr. & Mrs. Connoisseur | #2

We are in Andermatt and are haunted by visions: moving forward! We learn of a new work of art in the winter trend destination of Mexico. We hang out in the most inventive hotel bar in Berlin. And then our mouths drop open again: We read first-hand how the Austrians (almost) managed to kill their winter season. The travel blog of Simone and Andreas Dressler. New every 14 days.

!HEARD.!
We already know the Andermatt event location from LOOP, a top professional travel trade fair organized by the bustling Astrid Oberhumer. While Astrid, who is always in a positive mood, unfortunately had to cancel her well-running LOOP in Vienna recently due to the pandemic, world leaders from tourism and science met with young entrepreneurs from the travel industry at the World Tourism Festival Lucern in Andermatt, Switzerland, from 15-16 November to implement visions in the best sense of the word.

We heard concepts on sustainability and (for the first time) biodiversity, which, if realized, will bring a quantum leap forward. In concrete terms, this is required:
In order to do justice to the "natural paradise" or "mountain idyll" advertised in the travel catalog, landscape protection must be put before profit maximization again in the future. And in order to restore a healthy balance between people, planet and profit, clear sustainability strategies are needed. In addition to the financial and social aspects, "natural capital" also needs to be considered.



We were particularly impressed by a statement from Shannon Ghuian, Chief TreadRight & Sustainability Officer at Travel & Tourism Folundation (TTC): '"Breathtaking nature is one of the reasons why we travel in the first place. But by traveling, we destroy it. That's why we need to help travelers protect nature and motivate them to change their behavior in a sustainable way, while continuing to sell them travel."

Moving forward - Start Ups is now implementing these and other postulates in five categories: Recovering. Living. Exploring, Savoring. Impacting. The clever people at WTFL have provided us with insider information on the Young Talents for Mr. & Ms. Connoisseur: www.wtflucerne.org/young-talent-programme. Also info on the start ups: innovation2021.wtflucerne.org

Click - and go for it!

Other contributions from speakers and panel guests at this year's World Tourism Forum Lucerne were also exciting. The one by TUI Cruises boss Wybke Meier was unforgettable: How the pandemic paralyzed her fleet. And what she did next. More on this in one of the next blogs.

!SHOWN.!
Mexico is currently running hot - "fingers crossed" that it stays that way. An exciting resort there is now showing us what innovation in luxury tourism means. Barefoot luxury plus ethnic chic, paired with a slightly esoteric touch of body & soul, stirred and shaken with social commitment and a mega claim to experiencing nature: these are the ingredients for villa prices from U$ 700 upwards and a hip clientele who may be bored at Six Senses and see Club Med as the end of the line for boomers.

AQUA VILLA. Source: (c) Azulik: www.azulik.com/villas

"Our past did not touch us. We wait united in the future. We came together to remember, and when we did, we discovered virtues and values that were already in us. We found water, slept under the stars and let them slip into our dreams...We understood: If we could go back to the beginning we could go anywhere".

Swashbuckling kitsch or groundbreaking? The creators of the 'Azulik' brand are probably too cooked up to be hippies. Behind their concept of Azulik and "The Tribe", their 50 villas - all of which have no electricity, no TV and are embedded in nature between the jungle and the sea - their trend-setting wellness concept and a "jungle kitchen" that relies exclusively on natural products from breakfast onwards without compromise, are high accommodation prices and rigorous marketing.

'Fashion:' inspired by the great cultures of the past. 'Community projects:' for example, the creation of a larch national park with 300-year-old trees and ten exclusive residences. 'Art:' Workshops with regional artists, craftspeople and rediscovered materials from bygone eras.

'A resort as a total work of art.' In principle, the creators of Azulik are simply turning the hospitality concept of integrating nature, social issues and neighbourhood care into the vacation experience on its head: Now the guest experience of being totally integrated locally and close to nature plays first fiddle. The overnight stay itself is then only part of the staging - good conscience included.
www.azulik.com

!LOVED.!
Rediscovered on a recent visit to Berlin: the capital's most beautiful bar menu. It looks like this: HERE is the detailed view.

Behind this is a firework display of mixology creativity, and you can't help but take your hat off to Willi Bittorf and his team. We are in the bar at Steinplatz. Location: in the hotel of the same name, a few fun pirouettes away from the zoo.
What does Willi do that the others don't dare?



Firstly,He relies on an elaborate, intelligently curated range of special beers. 15 styles, rarities from Belgium and around the world, with German beers naturally at the forefront. Incidentally, the bar team also serves the right beer to accompany the - highly recommended - dinner in the restaurant. Cheers!

"Secondly," He drove the bad word mocktail out of ladies and gentlemen who like to stay alcohol-free, and did so thoroughly. Alcohol-free 'signature drinks', the likes of which you won't find anywhere else, are a fabulous treat for the palate - and, as you can see, are a particular hit in the hot summer months. Ingredients? Coconut, orange, cinnamon, morning dew, verius, elderberry, cardamom, kombucha, rose water, shiso, sea buckthorn... what Willi's team makes is unique, and not just in the capital. Santé!

"Thirdly," The "normal" cocktail menu. Hard to beat in terms of creative pleasure. The use of double juniper, for example, shows how precisely new paths are taken or old ones avoided. A gin-less bar! Back to the roots! Even die-hard gin lovers can get involved in a love affair with juniper spirits. For the good!
www.barsteinplatz.com

!READ.!
The editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper HEUTE , Christian Nusser, has just blogged in his newspaper about the current vaccination situation in Austria with its consequences for tourism in the Alpine republic:

"I wish you a wonderful start to the lockdown week. We can do so with a proudly swollen chest, because we're back on the international stage and last week we were even the stars of Europe's news channels. The graphics thrown up on the wall of the TV studios looked like the nations ranking in the Ski World Cup when things are going well for us. Austria ahead of Switzerland ahead of Germany. Among the western countries on the continent, we had the most unvaccinated people aged 12 and over. 24.8 percent of the population had not yet received a single jab, compared to 24.4 percent in Switzerland and 22.1 percent in Germany. There was a large gap between the two. From the supposedly best country in Europe that Sebastian Kurz marketed us as for a long time, but which we never were anyway, we became the tail light on the train towards the light.
In Sweden, only 16.1% are not immunized, in France, which has always been particularly critical of vaccination, 8.4%, and in Portugal 1.5%. The British "Financial Times" made a rather long article out of this, borrowing a word from German for the headline, which will perhaps have as great a career in the Anglo-Saxon world as "Angst" or "Schadenfreude" recently, it means "Nein Danke".
The report itself is characterized by astonishment at the German-speaking areas in Europe, nowhere is the scepticism towards vaccination so great. The Dutch and the British and the Swedes and all the others may not be able to come to us for skiing this winter, but perhaps we can lure them into the country by making Austria a Corona Minimundus. They can look at us and nudge us and talk to us and when they go home, they can tell us that they were with the people who could have ended the pandemic with a vaccine, but they preferred to suffer."