100 years of Swiss Youth Hostels: “Every day, we are committed to making holidays and travel possible for everyone.”

Nina: Today we have rea­son to cel­e­brate: SYH is turn­ing 100 years old! What is the organisation’s recipe for suc­cess? 

Janine: Time and again, the Swiss Youth Hos­tels have demon­strat­ed exem­plary adapt­abil­i­ty in nav­i­gat­ing social and polit­i­cal change. Accom­mo­da­tion has evolved from sim­ple haylofts to mod­ern and pro­fes­sion­al­ly run hos­tels. We have also been active­ly com­mit­ted to sus­tain­able and envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly tourism for sev­er­al decades, to name but a few exam­ples. 

Why were the Swiss Youth Hos­tels found­ed in the first place? 

Leisure time was a rare com­mod­i­ty at the begin­ning of the 20th cen­tu­ry. In addi­tion, indus­tri­al­i­sa­tion and monot­o­nous machine labour increas­ing­ly impact­ed the men­tal and phys­i­cal well-being of young peo­ple. These young­sters were also look­ing to estab­lish bal­ance in their lives, which they dis­cov­ered amidst the beau­ty of nature while hik­ing. How­ev­er, they were only able to do one-day hikes because back then you only had one day off. With the intro­duc­tion of the mod­ern two-day week­end, sud­den­ly two-day hikes were pos­si­ble. This meant that there was also a need for afford­able accom­mo­da­tion and is why rep­re­sen­ta­tives of var­i­ous youth organ­i­sa­tions found­ed the “Zürcherische Genossen­schaft für Jugend­her­ber­gen” (Asso­ci­a­tion for Youth Hos­tels Zurich) in Zurich on 28 April 1924. 

What were the most defin­ing events of the last cen­tu­ry? 

The first mile­stone was undoubt­ed­ly the found­ing on 28 April 1924. When the need arose to cross nation­al bor­ders, Switzer­land became a found­ing mem­ber of the glob­al umbrel­la organ­i­sa­tion Hostelling Inter­na­tion­al in 1932 to ensure safe and afford­able accom­mo­da­tion around the globe. In 1956, the age lim­it of 25 years was final­ly lift­ed so that the Swiss Youth Hos­tels were able to wel­come more and more fam­i­lies among their guests. The Zurich Youth Hos­tels Asso­ci­a­tion estab­lished the Swiss Foun­da­tion for Social Tourism on 11 May 1973, there­by reor­gan­is­ing prop­er­ty and asset man­age­ment, allow­ing the Zurich Asso­ci­a­tion to focus entire­ly on run­ning the hos­tels. In 1991, the major­i­ty of the region­al asso­ci­a­tions merged to form the Swiss Youth Hos­tels Asso­ci­a­tion. Today, the asso­ci­a­tion is more ded­i­cat­ed than ever to pro­mot­ing social and sus­tain­able tourism in Switzer­land and glob­al­ly, as a mem­ber of Hostelling Inter­na­tion­al.  

How has the offer­ing changed? 

The orig­i­nal def­i­n­i­tion of a youth hos­tel was as fol­lows: An overnight accom­mo­da­tion with beds or beds of straw, with a roof over the head and a cook­ing facil­i­ty. Today, our guests sleep in a Nordic style, main­ly in small­er room units with a max­i­mum of 6 beds, and we cater for them in the evening with a bal­anced three-course menu. We have devel­oped into a mod­ern and pro­fes­sion­al non-prof­it organ­i­sa­tion. 

What val­ues does the asso­ci­a­tion rep­re­sent? 

We are par­tic­u­lar­ly proud that we have always remained true to our val­ues. Back then and now, our attrac­tive­ly priced offer­ings reflect our ongo­ing com­mit­ment to mak­ing hol­i­days with­in Switzer­land acces­si­ble, even for those on a tight bud­get. We also ded­i­cate our­selves to cre­at­ing expe­ri­ences that extend beyond indi­vid­u­als’ famil­iar sur­round­ings. That is our pri­ma­ry objec­tive. At the same time, we ensure our offer­ings are as sus­tain­able as pos­si­ble – both in the con­struc­tion and oper­a­tion of the youth hos­tels.  

Where will the jour­ney take us in the next few years? 

We are cur­rent­ly work­ing on lots of excit­ing projects! Dig­i­tal­i­sa­tion and the oppor­tu­ni­ties it brings will con­tin­ue to play a cen­tral and impor­tant role. We are also expand­ing our net­work with great loca­tions in Mar­tigny, Gene­va and Biel. In Lucerne, we’re plan­ning to move from the Rot­see Youth Hos­tel to the Swiss Muse­um of Trans­port, while in Pon­tresina we’re also plan­ning a ren­o­va­tion project with a boul­der hall. One thing is cer­tain – the future promis­es to be excit­ing.  

You have been work­ing for Swiss Youth Hos­tels for almost 30 years. What does the organ­i­sa­tion mean to you? 

It is the val­ues, the peo­ple and the part­ner­ships that make the organ­i­sa­tion what it is. Every day, we strive to make hol­i­days and trav­el pos­si­ble for every­one. And we do so in a way that cre­ates friend­ships across nation­al bor­ders, regard­less of back­ground or cul­ture. This moti­vates me anew every day and, even after almost 30 years, I still enjoy work­ing for the Swiss Youth Hos­tels very much. 

What is your per­son­al birth­day wish for the Swiss Youth Hos­tels? 

Over the past 100 years, the Swiss Youth Hos­tels have always excelled in adapt­ing to soci­etal changes and keep­ing up with the times. I wish the Swiss Youth Hos­tels con­tin­ued suc­cess in this endeav­our and con­tin­ued ded­i­ca­tion to social­ly respon­si­ble and sus­tain­able tourism for the next 100 years. 

Janine Bunte has worked for Swiss Youth Hos­tels since 1996 and has held the role of CEO since 2019. She start­ed out as a clerk in the accounts depart­ment before assum­ing region­al man­age­ment respon­si­bil­i­ties. From 2010 to 2019, she was CFO and a mem­ber of the Exec­u­tive Board, respon­si­ble for the finance, IT and human resources depart­ments. As CEO of the Swiss Youth Hos­tels, Janine Bunte focus­es in par­tic­u­lar on the fur­ther dig­i­tal devel­op­ment of the non-prof­it organ­i­sa­tion and on ful­fill­ing the association’s oblig­a­tions to social tourism and anchor­ing it in the organisation’s cul­ture. Janine Bunte is Pres­i­dent of Para­hotel­lerie Schweiz, co-ini­tia­tor and Pres­i­dent of the discover.swiss asso­ci­a­tion, Pres­i­dent of Equality4Tourism, Vice-Presi­dent of the dis­cover.swiss coop­erative and a mem­ber of the board of Go-Snow, Schnee Sportinitia­tive Schweiz. Through her active par­tic­i­pa­tion in inter­na­tion­al com­mit­tees, she also plays a key role in the devel­op­ment of Hostelling Inter­na­tion­al, the inter­na­tion­al asso­ci­a­tion of youth hos­tels world­wide. 

Even more history

Amaz­ing sto­ries unfold behind the doors of our hos­tels. 

I am all ears