How it all began ..
Stadtmarketing und Tourismus Feldkirch GmbH, founded in 1996, is one of the oldest city marketing organisations in Austria. However, its origins date back to 1885.
History Stadtmarketing und Tourismus Feldkirch
The predecessor of today's Stadtmarketing und Tourismus Feldkirch GmbH was Feldkircher Werbe- und Tourismus GmbH, which was founded in 1996. The owners of the company are the City of Feldkirch (60%), the Feldkirch Tourism Association (20%) and the Feldkirch Shopping Community (20%).
The original tasks of the WTG were event management, tourism marketing including the management of tourism information, the Feldkirch shopping voucher and the servicing of the member businesses of the two associations. With the reorganisation and renaming in 2008, the areas of work were expanded to include city marketing and location marketing.
In accordance with the company's mandate, Stadtmarketing und Tourismus Feldkirch GmbH is now a company that provides services for retail, gastronomy and tourism, uses suitable marketing and communication measures to give the city a positive image locally, regionally and beyond, and organises and implements appropriate measures, projects and events that serve this goal.
The measures, projects and events implemented should increase the attractiveness, visitor frequency and quality of stay and be beneficial to the retail, catering and tourism sectors and, in particular, to the image and brand of the "City of Feldkirch".
From the foundation of the Verschönerungsverein in 1885 zur heutigen Stadtmarketinggesellschaft
The citizens of Feldkirch demonstrated their cultural responsibility over 100 years ago with the founding of the "Verschönerungsverein für Feldkirch und Umgebung" (25 April 1885). The purpose of the association was "... to promote everything that relates to the beautification of the town and its surroundings ...". The Feldkirch Tourist Association, which was founded in 1935, sees itself as the successor and "administrator" of the Beautification Association. Both associations initially existed side by side until 1938, when all private associations were dissolved by the nationalist rulers and a municipal tourist office took over the tasks of both associations. After the Second World War, the tourist office was continued, and on 22 March 1950 the "Feldkirch Tourist Office", today's Feldkirch Tourist Office, was re-established.
The Werbegemeinschaft der Einkaufsstadt Feldkirch was founded in 1978 by committed merchants with the aim of strengthening Feldkirch as a location and increasing the attractiveness of the shopping town of Feldkirch. From the mid-1980s, the tourism association and the advertising association worked closely together, e.g. in the organisation and implementation of various events. When Feldkircher Werbe- und Tourismus GmbH was founded in May 1996, the operational agendas of the two associations were taken over by the company.
Major changes for the company subsequently occurred with the founding of Destination Bodensee-Alpenrhein (today: Bodensee-Vorarlberger Tourismus) in 1999 for the area of the Vorarlberg Rhine Valley as well as a restructuring and expansion of the area of responsibility in 2008 and further restructuring and renaming (Stadtkultur und Kommunikation Feldkirch) in recent years. Since 1 January 2022, the company has been run independently again, separate from Montforthaus Feldkirch, under the name Stadtmarketing und Tourismus Feldkirch GmbH.
