Switzerland for quite a while as been one of the worlds rich countries. Part of doing better is the ability to travel for leisure. Switzerland found a unique way of keeping more travel local and opening up the experience to a wider group of potential travelers. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This stamp is one of the many Swiss issues that show off some aspect of the society that makes life easier for some of it’s citizens. Now that we are all global citizens such issues date a bit. As period pieces, these stamp shows how hard the government was working to show they are being good stewards of Switzerland’s economic success. I wish todays governments thought as hard about how things look. To outsiders though, they can come across as bragging.
Todays stamp is issue A384, a 50 Rappan stamp issued by Switzerland on August 25th 1989. It was part of a 5 stamp issue in various denominations that celebrated the 50th anniversary of the reka travel organization. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.
As Switzerland got wealthier there was more world travel both for it’s citizens and tourist visiting. Switzerland had the idea of a new system that encouraged getaways to stay in Switzerland. 1939 was an advantageous time to start such a plan with war breaking out all around peaceful Switzerland. The increased local travel protected hospitality jobs and increased infrastructure for tourists.
The reka organization set up a point system where you buy points that can be then used on travel. Paying for travel with reka points results in a 17 percent discount over paying cash. There is the ability to save reka points in anticipation of travel that is not taxed. When points are redeemed, the hotel for example pays a three percent commission to the organization. The organization is not for profit and instead uses the revenue to subsidize travel for single parents and those with a low income.
The subsidy for the poorer is not complete. Their website is currently offering a weeks vacation for a mother and child for 200 Swiss Francs. This equalization of outcomes must be difficult to pull off successfully. You have to avoid filling hotels with ungrateful lower classes that ruin the experience for paying customers while still providing a social good that justifies the not for profit status of the organization. As Switzerland becomes more diverse and takes in ever more refugees that share little with the Swiss citizens supporting them, it will be interesting if subsidies like reka survive. So far so good, the stamp celebrated 50 years and in 2019 reka still operates after 80 years.
Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering what the dynamic is at Swiss hotels. Are reka people welcomed as a step up from say American tourists or are they thought of as economy travelers that only are taken when the hotel is not full? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.