The college’s goal is to inspire our students to learn and grow into global tourism professionals.

We want to unlock our students’ potential and support them to succeed in their career.

A central feature in developing our students into tourism professionals is the quality of our lecturers. Lecturers are chosen on their experience in the tourism industry as well as their academic qualifications. We believe students learn best from tourism professionals, who can pass on the theoretical knowledge as well as their experiences. In this situation students are given the chance to learn directly from their colleagues, who currently are working in the industry.

Additionally, the college also provides students with the opportunity to see, hear and experience tourism outside the classroom in Switzerland, Europe and the rest of the world. In cooperation with international tourism professionals, working in the destinations around the world, our students are exposed to tourism within other cultures or geographic regions. Based on the seminar’s goal students may learn and explore specific types of tourism (cultural tourism, ecotourism, wildlife tourism) as well as the sectors of tourism (tourism services, events and conferences, tourist attractions). This hands-on experience provides the environment for students to gather a variety of perceptions giving them an international as well as regional understanding of tourism.

We are practical, personal and visionary.

Practical –  our lecturers are tourism professionals

Current tourism and management professionals are employed as lecturers to impart the theory and to give real life examples to the students. This setting allows students direct insights into the profession and offers them the chance to directly profit from the lecturer’s knowledge and experience. For example, two lecturers who teach the communication course work for SWISS International Airlines and Edelweiss Air, therefore can provide students with insights into the current situation and the challenges facing the industry.

Personal – we care

Our classes are small. We want to get to know our students. We are interested in them. We want to learn what is important to them, what are their plans, what are their successes and their challenges. We want to assist them to learn and grow. At the same time, we want to give them an opportunity to get to know us, what is important to us, what makes the tourism profession appealing, what are the challenges and inspirations as a tourism professional and what are the current and future issues facing the tourism industry. 

Visionary – we are future oriented

We want to prepare our students for the future in the tourism industry. Not only will they learn about technology and digitalization, but they will also become equipped in solving problems that face the industry currently and in the future. We also want them to become expert learners - because learning is a lifelong journey.

Patrick Rüedi – Director and Head of School of HFT Luzern

Patrick Rüedi is the owner, director and Head of School of the Swiss College of Higher Education in Tourism Management. He is an experienced professional with over 20 years’ experience in leading a tourism school and educating tourism students. His passion is to inspire students to learn and grow to fulfil their potential. His goal, together with his team, is to prepare students to become respected and successful tourism professionals. Amongst his many responsibilities his job is to create and execute a tourism management curriculum that is up-to-date and relevant for the Swiss tourism industry, and at the same time meets the Swiss government regulations.

We are the first College of Higher Education in Tourism Management in Switzerland.

For over 35 years the college received an accreditation from the Swiss national government to educate and develop future Swiss tourism professionals. The 2-year part time program is based on 4 areas of study, including tourism, tourism environment, management, and personal and social development. But knowing is not everything, you need to be able to use the knowledge. Therefore, students are regularly required to integrate and apply the knowledge to a case study or challenges faced in a company. The project work, within and outside the classroom, consistently endorses the training focus of the program. 

The students, who attend the program are German speaking Swiss aged between 20 to 35 years old. They are passionate about tourism and are keen to develop themselves within the industry. While their first language is German, all students must attain a high level of English competency to graduate the program.

Seminar Europe - deep dive in Greece

During a one-week seminar students were able to gain insights into the Greek tourism industry. Besides visiting some of the country’s main attractions, such as the Acropolis and Mycanea, the students met a variety of tourism professionals from a range of fields, such as government agencies, wineries, airlines, sustainability companies and event agencies. To gain a deeper understanding of the issues related to Greek seasonality and destination marketing, the students visited two major destinations, Athens and Nafplio.

Study Trip@Sea in the Baltic Region

This innovative and unique seminar takes our students to Scandinavia for a week's seminar built around the cruise industry. The students, during a mini cruise on the Baltic Sea, have the chance to talk to professionals on board the ship, such as the captain, hotel manager, head chef and event manager. Additionally, the students visit three destinations: Stockholm in Sweden, Helsinki in Finland and Tallinn in Estonia and learn from local tourism professionals about the importance of the tourism sector for the local economy.

To read more about the Studytrip@Sea 2022 held in the Baltic Sea, click here.

Events & More - a visit to a large Event Management Company, Auviso in Switzerland

During the daylong excursion the students get the chance to collaborate with one of the largest Swiss companies in event management and event technology, Auviso. After a behind-the-scenes visit to the company’s headquarters the students apply their knowledge through developing an event concept for a client of Auviso.

In the afternoon the groups present their initial ideas to the board members of the company and receive valuable feedback on their proposals. The knowledge can be further developed into a full event concept during the weekly lessons. At the end of the semester the students pitch their seasoned ideas to the board members – the winning group gets the chance to attend this event when it is implemented.

Dimitra Vlachou: Founder and Co-Managing Partner Hospitality Stories, Zurich, Switzerland 

HFT Luzern: Dimitra, thank you for your time. You are the founder at Hospitality Stories and a Senior Marketing Executive in the Hospitality and Leisure industries. Would you tell us what you do at Hospitality Stories?

Dimitra Vlachou: Hospitality Stories, (https://www.hospitalitystories.com) is an experiential marketing and consulting company with the main focus in the hospitality and leisure industry. We consider ourselves to be experts in connecting our guests with the destinations through genuine and personalised experiences in Greece and Turkey. Our philosophy is that the best kind of travel - the kind that resides in the heart, soul and mind forever - is built on two essential pillars: The warmth of the welcome you receive from a destination and its people … and the precious local stories you bring back home from your journey.    

HFT Luzern: What was your involvement with HFT Luzern?

Dimitra Vlachou: During a 5-day fully-packed seminar, we had the opportunity to offer HFT Luzern students a 360-degree educational and leisure experience focused on the topic, Destination Management in Greece. The students met and discussed with key tourism stakeholders, enjoyed customised experiential tours and last but not least immersed themselves in the charming Greek lifestyle. We would like to thank the HFT Luzern educational team and the students for the excellent collaboration and we look forward to working closely with HFT Luzern in similar future projects.

HFT Luzern: How would you describe HFT Luzern?

Pythagoras Nagos Dr.oec.publ.: Independent Strategic Advisor, various mandates in the Leisure, Shipping and Tourism industries with focus in ESG projects (development of zero emission passenger catamaran vessels, cruise port development implementing sustainability strategies), Co-Managing Partner Hospitality Stories

HFT Luzern: Pythagoras, you have many fields of expertise. Would you tell us about an exciting project you were recently involved in?

Pythagoras Nagos: Apart from my advisory mandates in the shipping industry my clients are ports in the Eastern Mediterranean, (yards which are engaged in the development of modern low emission passenger catamaran ferries). Recently, I participated in a Sustainability project as a Strategic Advisor / Expert, which is co-funded by the European Union. The project is called Eco-Cruising FU_TOUR and aims at exploiting the green and blue potential of the West Mediterranean SMEs (Small and Medium size Enterprises) through cross-border cooperation. Their goal is to unlock new business opportunities around the new eco-cruise tourism sector.

HFT Luzern: As a co-managing partner of Hospitality Stories you and Dimitra Vlachou collaborated with HFT Luzern to organise the seminar in Greece. How did you experience HFT Luzern?

Marina Selikowitsch: Business Development Director and Interim Head of Sales DACH, Tallink Silja GmbH, Hamburg, Germany

HFT Luzern: Nice to see you again, Marina. As part of a large Estonian company would you explain your role in the organization?

Marina Selikowitsch: In my role as Business Development Director, I am responsible for strategic partnerships and new promotion and sales channels for Tallink Silja products on German-speaking markets. In my interim position as Head of Sales I am now also responsible for definition and implementation of our Sales strategy in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland as well as forecasting and achieving sales and profitability.

HFT Luzern: Since 2016 you have been involved with HFT Luzern in bringing students onboard the Tallink Silja line of ships. How has the collaboration been between HFT Luzern and Tallink Silja GmbH?

There are mutiple benefits for working as a partner with HFT Luzern. Amongst other things:

• the chance to collaborate with one of the top tourism colleges in Switzerland
• the opportunity to discuss the latest tourism trends with young, dynamic tourism professionals, who are passionate tourists themselves
• the situation where you can connect and form a network with tourism professionals, who can promote your products and services
• the prospect to discuss new ideas and perspectives as well as current theories and best practices within and related to the tourism industry