TORONTO — The European Travel Commission (ETC) has appointed Pascal Prinz, Director Canada at Switzerland Tourism, as its new Chair of ETC’s Canada chapter.
The position was formerly held by Dana Welch, Tourism Ireland’s Marketing Manager for Canada, for the past three years. It was announced yesterday that Welch has been promoted by Tourism Ireland to Vice President Marketing, USA and will be relocating from Toronto to New York.
While under Welch’s direction, Prinz served as Vice-Chair for ETC for the past 18 months during which his commitment and hard work earned him the support of ETC members. In his new role as Chair, Prinz will lead ETC’s activities to restore Canadian travel to Europe by leveraging European destinations’ promotional activities and setting up platforms for cooperative marketing and exchange of best practices.
Canada ranks third among all out-of-region outbound travel markets to European destinations, with 6.5 million travellers from Canada arriving in Europe in 2019. Tourist arrivals from Canada to Europe are currently forecasted to decline by an average of 35% in 2020 due to the global pandemic.
“This is obviously a very difficult year and it might take some time but we will work hard to bring Canadians back to Europe,” he says. “This pandemic will not stop the love of Canadians for Europe.”
On his new appointment, Prinz adds: “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 10 jobs globally. I look forward to navigating this crisis together with my European colleagues and to rebuilding jobs both in Canada and Europe.”
Prinz has served as the Director Canada and Trade Manager Central USA for Switzerland Tourism for two and a half years and is also a board member of the Swiss-Canadian Chamber of Commerce. He previously 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.
