Milestone is the most prestigious Swiss tourism prize, awarded annually with a main Innovation category and a Newcomer category. In the main category, for which a total of sixty projects were submitted, Zermatt picked up one of three Milestones in 2020. This comes after last year, when Zermatt also won the main prize. This year, the award went to the Matterhorn illumination #hope.
The campaign #hope
In spring of this year, Zermatt commissioned light artist Gerry Hofstetter to light up the Matterhorn for six weeks with symbols, logos and national flags. The projections were barely visible with the naked eye but could be seen clearly on photos. These Matterhorn photos, accompanied by messages of hope and solidarity during the corona crisis, went around the world.
Jury’s decision
“This was a challenging time for the whole of humanity, and one in which the project initiators reacted quickly and created a symbol of solidarity and fellowship between people. They shared ‘our’ Matterhorn with the rest of the world and sent a positive signal and a feeling of hope. The incredible response of the media confirmed that this positive symbol reached the rest of the world’s population,” said the Milestone jury about their decision.
Zermatt is delighted
“We are thrilled to have won two Milestones in a row, and our fourth in total for Zermatt Tourism – particularly at the moment, when tourism is going through a really tough time. The project for which we won the prize shows that a crisis always brings opportunities, too. With this in mind, we are looking forward to the winter season with confidence and hope for the best for Swiss tourism,” says Daniel Luggen, director of tourism for Zermatt – Matterhorn.
