ECHO Rails Swiss Travel Advisory Council
We engage a number of Swiss Travel Experts to ensure we deliver the finest travel experience in Switzerland. They are here to advise us on our tours. Our experts help us craft our unique tours of Switzerland. They share their knowledge and insights so that our travelers will enjoy enlightening experiences, the wonderful aspects of nature, the history and culture of Switzerland. You will return home with the memories of a lifetime and a renewed sense of wonder. Andrea Caspani
Meet Our Swiss Travel Experts
Annemarie Meyer
CEO Glacier Express
Annemarie’s 30+ years of executive positions in management, marketing, sponsorship, event and hospitality with global organizations such as FIFA-World Cup, America’s Cup, Alinghi and UBS and Swiss “world-wide” destination brands such as Davos and St. Moritz, portray Annemarie as one of the best “inside Switzerland look” executives in Switzerland today.
Glacier Express CEO, Annemarie has enhanced and raised the brand with the new “Excellence Class” to one of the world’s highest quality level experiences.
Annemarie has always been there to provide valuable “inside Switzerland” recommendations to ECHO Rails.
It’s an honor and privilege to welcome Urs on our ECHO Rails Swiss “Advisory” Expert list. Over the years Urs has been instrumental to help companies to bridge “international visitor”. For the past 18 years, as Deputy CEO, based in Zurich, Urs’s “global business acumen” is a major reason for Switzerland Tourism’s growth and excellence. While starting his tourism career in the Lake Lucerne region, he joined Switzerland Tourism in key European posts such as Amsterdam, Duesseldorf and London then promoted Director North America overseeing the offices of Los Angeles, Toronto and New York.
We look forward to Urs’s continued assistance as he now pursues individual projects and Swiss tourism mandates.
Urs Eberhard
Former Deputy CEO of Switzerland Tourism
Thomas Aschwanden
Canton Uri, Director of Public Transportation
His responsibilities include managing & monitoring all the rail, bus, boat timetables within his Canton and interfaces with all his other Swiss public transportation counterparts to ensure efficient intra-canton compatibility.
Thomas is instrumental in our itinerary planning and connecting us with the right Swiss respective transportation contact.
In his free time, he also joins us as a guide and provides great insight into how Switzerland functions.
Martin Barth has served as the President & CEO of the World Tourism Forum Lucerne for the past 15 years.
He has traveled the globe to assemble Switzerland’s and the World’s top CEO’s, Ministers, Academia, Finance, Startups, the Next Generation & Young Tourism University Talents to meet & address the future challenges in the travel, tourism and hospitality industry to shape a more sustainable future.
Martin also works with the Swiss – Federal Innovation agency funding science-based projects to increase competitiveness of small to medium size Swiss businesses. As a practitioner turned researcher and professor turned entrepreneur, Martin continues to consult for various professional associations and organizations in destination promotion, tourism and hotel management areas globally. He is an Alumni of the prestigious St. Gallen University in Switzerland. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Hospitality Management School in Lucerne.
Martin Barth
President & CEO of the World Tourism Forum
Louis Palmer
Global Environment Leader
As a child growing up in Lucerne, Louis had a dream to travel around the world in a solar powered car to raise awareness and show people there are solutions to stop global warming.
With his inspiration and “Never give Up” action attitude in 2008, Louie was the first person in the world to circumnavigate the world, logging over 36,000 miles through 40 countries over an 18 month period and finishing in Lucerne. For this achievement Louie was awarded the European Solar Prize and in 2011 was awarded the United Nations – Champion of the Earth award.
Today Louis and his wife Dr. Julianna Priskin, co-founded the “Switzerland Explorer”, the world’s first electric tour bus and offer Lucerne Panorama Sightseeing & Chocolate Tours and tailored tours to the public.
After ten years at Lonely Planet and Holiday Which? magazine, Diccon decamped to Switzerland, where until recently he was manager of the Stauffacher English Bookshop in Bern.
As well as grappling with German grammar, re-learning to cross the road properly, and overcoming his innate desire to form an orderly queue, Diccon has spent the last few years exploring the bits of Switzerland he’d never heard of before. And eating lots of chocolate.
The result was Swiss Watching, a book that became a bestseller.
Diccon is now a full-time writer, occasional radio guest, permanent expat and recently obtained Swiss citizenship.
Diccon Dewes
Best Selling “Swiss Watching” Author
Renato Fasciati
CEO Rhätian Railway
With a 20+ year career in Swiss Railway Executive positions, Renato is the current CEO of the Rhätitian Railway, the largest network of private railways in Switzerland. He is also a Board member on a number of other Swiss Rail related companies.
ECHO Rails uses the RhB railway on its Chur to St. Moritz, Bernina Express & Glacier Express segments.
