Media Touristik is one of the biggest operators in the education agency industry in Switzerland, running several brands working directly with consumers and with mainstream travel agencies. Mark Winkler, CEO, spoke with The PIE about the “small, big market” in Switzerland.
The PIE: So Mark, when did you start off in the language travel industry?
MW: I actually started in 1979. I was a student myself in Cambridge, and a few friends of mine wanted to go to Cambridge to study and I asked the school where I was if I could get some commission and they said ok, if you start an agency you’ll get some commission; so I started my agency. But really professionally, as a job, I started in 1985.
The PIE: So, what happened between 1979 and 1985?
MW: Oh I went back to study and had a few jobs in Switzerland and then, as I said, 1985 was the real start as a professional agency.
The PIE: And which agency was this?
The name of the company at that time was Media Touristik AG Ltd. and it’s still the same name, Media Touristik. And what we did [to grow the company], we started different brands actually. So in every city, we had another brand, so like Linguline in Zurich, Linguista in Winterthur – those are all agencies for the direct market.
And then we started – maybe 22 years ago – Globostudy and Globostudy is a product whereby we are a tour operator and this a product for the Swiss travel industry, for the retail offices and that’s a product we’re selling through travel agencies. So we have got two different lines: One is an agency for the direct market and one as a tour-operating company for the travel industry.
The PIE: So what proportion of your business now comes from the tourism market?
MW: It’s about half and half.
The PIE: And, I’m interested as to why you launched a different brand for each city?
MW: The thinking was, you know, in the old days, before we had the internet, you had to advertise and people were sending us coupons for different brands. It was always the same company but they asked two or three agencies [for quotes] and this was behind the idea.
“If you are not in the top ranking of Google as an agent for language schools, you have no chance to stay in the market”
But then when the internet came, let’s say 10 or 12 years ago, we realised that it’s too expensive to handle four, five, six brands as homepages. So now we have got two homepages, one is globostudy.ch for the travel industry channel and Linguista for the agents, for the direct market.
How have you seen the agency industry change since you started in 1985?
I think the main change is the internet. These days you really have to be strong on the internet, you have to have a good homepage, you have to have a good SEO and you have to be in the top ranking of Google. If you are not in the top ranking of Google as an agent for language schools, you have no chance to stay in the market.
The PIE: And what about the Swiss market? As a particular market in terms of its appetite for studying abroad…
MW: I think it’s quite a stable market because in Switzerland it is a very old tradition [studying abroad]. 50 years ago, 60 years ago people went to London, went to Bournemouth, went to Brighton… mainly to England or to France to learn languages. And as we have four languages in Switzerland so people know about the importance of speaking languages and if you want to get a job in a Swiss bank, in a Swiss insurance company, you need to speak three or four languages, otherwise you don’t get a job. [more..]
MW: And you see in Switzerland, we have a quite high standard of living and our clients are, I think, quite unusual clients for language schools so we get the academic people but we get many people who don’t really have an academic pathway [in mind] and who work in a bank, insurance company etc. We get nearly everybody, hairdressers, machine engineers, mechanics.. and they want to go for three months to New Zealand or Australia just to learn English. And they can do so, because they can make the money in Switzerland.
The PIE: As an agency, do you always feel that is was your responsibility to keep offering new products? Or was it your consumers that are pushing you to find new options?
“The Swiss are travellers and if you are a traveller you need to speak languages”
MW: I think there were both things you know. There is another important point: the Swiss like to travel around the world. Many Swiss are travelling as backpackers around the world all the time.
Many do let’s say for four weeks in Buenos Aires and then they travel for another two months through South America or they go a few weeks to study in New Zealand and then they travel through Asia and Australia and whatever. So the Swiss are travellers and if you are a traveller you need to speak languages, so many just start a language course and travel after that.
The PIE: Which market do you think is similar to Switzerland in terms of regions for studying abroad? It’s quite different from markets in China or India…
MW: I don’t really know, maybe the Dutch could be somehow similar. Maybe the Swedish market could be similar. But if you look to some other markets, people who go abroad to study are coming from wealthy families – in Switzerland this is not the case. Everybody just goes abroad to study.
The PIE: Where do you see new opportunities arising in the future? People you want to tuck into this Swiss tradition of studying abroad, what should they be offering or where?
MW: This is a very good question because you know, Swiss agents, they are quite loyal to their partners abroad and if you have got a new school it’s not easy to attract a Swiss agent.
I think the important thing is – if you have a new school, it has to be in a attractive location, because again it’s a combination of language course and being abroad in a nice place. When Lexis English started a language school in Scarborough Beach, Perth, in a short time they had many Swiss in that school because Scarborough Beach was attractive as a tourist destination… I think that’s important… so it’s also the lifestyle, the feeling…
“Swiss agents are quite loyal to their partners abroad and if you have got a new school it’s not easy to attract a Swiss agent”
The PIE: And within Switzerland is the market competitive?
MW: The market is very competitive… you know the Swiss market is very small actually and very competitive but many Swiss go abroad so it’s a kind of small market and big market at the same time.
There are only 7.5 million people living in Switzerland. And close to 2 million live in the French part and close to 1 million in the Italian part, so it’s about 5 million who live in the German part.
The PIE: And that’s the contingent who travel?
MW: The German contingent are the people who really travel the world. Not only for languages – for travelling!
