World's finest meeting place
Longstanding congress tradition
Leader in the global meeting market
Davos is the leader in the global meeting market in the mountains with well over 400 events per year. Davos has a congress tradition that no other Alpine city can match. No wonder: the most modern congress center in the Alps and the World Economic Forum (WEF), an event with international appeal. Davos offers over 100 different rooms with a capacity of over 15,000 participants.
The roots of the meeting and congress business in Davos go back to the 19th century. Even then, famous guests and doctors from all over Europe lived in the mountain resort and exchanged their specialist knowledge at conferences. In 1923, Davos doctors organized the first international congress, in 1925 the physical-meteorological observatory followed, and in 1928 Albert Einstein opened the first "Davos university courses". Davos had definitely become a congress city and a meeting place for intellectual elites.
Davos is the leading meeting location in the mountains
In order to meet this demand, the political and economic forces of Davos are pulling in the same direction - and the population is also fully behind this endeavor. The much-quoted "Spirit of Davos" is by no means a ghost. In fact, it is one of the reasons for Davos' success as a meeting location. Up here at 1560 m above sea level, nature is the main protagonist despite the urban infrastructure and gives the conference participants the feeling of being only a small part of the whole. It is precisely this atmosphere that repeatedly makes it possible to find compromises and solutions that would be unthinkable elsewhere.
Most modern congress centre in the Alps
Davos' congress infrastructure is unique and unmatched in the Alpine region. This is due to the expanded Davos Congress Center, sufficient bed capacity for large congresses and a large number of specialized seminar hotels as well as the Vaillant Arena. The meeting business is one of the most important sources of income for Davos. The population is united in its support. That is why in 2010 they clearly voted in favor of the almost 40 million Swiss Francs expansion of the Davos Congress Center.
Meeting, energy, education and knowledge city
But Davos is much more than a conference city: The town is home to various renowned research stations such as the National Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, numerous specialized clinics and hospitals, and is an energy, education and knowledge city at the same time. All of this is embedded in a natural environment at 1560 m above sea level, which makes up what is known worldwide as the "Spirit of Davos".
World Economic Forum as the largest event
The annual «World Economic Forum» (WEF) with around 3,000 internationally renowned figures from business, politics, science and society is the flagship of the meeting location Davos. The WEF annual meeting carries the «Spirit of Davos» around the world - confidentiality in a «global village», networking in a village atmosphere and urban infrastructure in an impressive mountain world.
Suitable for medical conferences
Strict guidelines apply in Switzerland to events such as conferences attended by medical or pharmaceutical experts and sponsored by companies in the industry. These guidelines stipulate that the main purpose of medical conferences is to provide scientific or technical information. The time required for this must clearly outweigh that required for any supporting program. Davos takes these guidelines very seriously, refers to them in all publications and contracts and complies with them 100%.
The organizers reward this commitment with their loyalty. And not without reason: While in other congress cities the already very limited free time of congress participants can be used for business meetings, the village atmosphere of the city of Davos, protected by the mountains, promotes successful focus on the congress being attended. Participants generally simply do not have the time for other activities.
Davos meets all the basic conditions for medical congresses in Switzerland
- Code of conduct of the pharmaceutical industry in Switzerland (Pharma Code)
- SWISS MEDTECH Code of Ethical Business Conduct
- Guidelines of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences SAMW
Davos is «World's finest Meeting Place» because:
- Davos is a congress city with a long tradition and has hosted one of the world's most respected global meetings, the World Economic Forum, for decades.
- Davos offers confidentiality in a "global village", networking in a village atmosphere and urban infrastructure in an impressive mountain world.
- Davos "Swissness at its Best" means: security, reliability, quality, authenticity, nature, punctuality and stability in politics and business. * Davos offers the best and most modern congress infrastructure in the Alps.
- All Davos residents pull together - authorities, businesses and the population.
- Davos meets all the basic conditions for medical congresses.
- Davos places great emphasis on sustainability, nature and environmental responsibility.
- Davos is also a city of knowledge, health and research.
- The "Spirit of Davos" leads to extraordinarily successful meetings.
- Davos offers hospitality twelve months a year and connects town and country.
- Davos offers a low VAT rate that is almost entirely refundable.
- Davos has the lowest VAT rate in Europe at 7.7%.
- Davos is located in the heart of Europe: international airports, low-cost carriers & high-speed trains are nearby.
- Davos offers free public transport for overnight stays in summer.
- Davos has high-quality hotel infrastructure in over 58 properties with over 27,000 guest beds.
- Davos offers seminar hotels in the 3- to 5-star segment with modern meeting infrastructure.
- Davos offers Europe's most beautiful region, with a beautiful lake in a magnificent mountain backdrop.
- Davos is part of the Schengen area.