Company history of Hallwag Kümmerly+Frey

The company Hallwag Kümmerly+Frey AG was founded in 2002 with headquarters in Schönbühl. This brought together 240 years of expertise (90 years at Hallwag and 150 years at Kümmerly+Frey). Hallwag Kümmerly+Frey has been part of the MairDumont Group since 2016.

We are the leading publishing house for tourism in Switzerland. Our versatile tourism programme offers detailed and up-to-date information for totally successful planning and travel. Road and regional maps, town plans, guides and atlases, world maps, panoramic maps, leisure books, hiking and cycling maps provide the perfect overview.

Our international distribution network ensures a worldwide presence and has made the red and yellow and the blue maps familiar everywhere.

To complete our tourism selection, we are the exclusive distributors of renowned travel guide series such as Baedeker, Marco Polo, Dumont, Vis-à-Vis, Lonely Planet, promobil, Caravanning and Kunth Verlag in Switzerland.

In addition, we offer two major ranges that ideally complement the leisure sector:

  • Swiss Alpine Club SAC (hiking guides, climbing guides)
  • Compass (hiking maps, nature guides)

Hallwag


Kümmerly+Frey

1912
Foundation of HALLWAG AG in Bern following the merger of Hallersche Buchdruckerei AG with Wagnersche Verlagsanstalt.
As one of the first car drivers in Bern, company founder Otto Richard Wagner recognized the need for travel information at an early stage and predicted the future needs of motorised tourists. Shortly after the publication of the first "Automobil Revue" (1906), Hallwag was already able to offer road maps of the most popular destinations at that time.

1934
His then 24-year-old son Otto Erich Wagner takes over management of the company.

1984
Son-in-law Dr. Jürgen Schad takes over management of the company

1997
Restructuring by consultant and CEO Maili Wolf. Dr. Volkmar Mair, owner of MairDumont, becomes Chairman of the Board of Directors.

2001
Peter Niederhauser becomes Managing Director.

1852
Gottfried Kümmerly founds a lithographic printing works in Bern.

1884
His two sons Hermann and Arnold Kümmerly take over the running of the business and later call themselves Gebrüder Kümmerly.

1887
Julius Frey, Hermann's brother-in-law, joins the company as co-owner and it is from then on known as Kümmerly+Frey.

1912
Heinrich Frey takes over management of the company.

1931
His sons Walter and Max Frey manage the company.

1974
Walter and Beat Frey take on the management of the company.

1989
Walter Frey remains the majority shareholder and restructures to form a holding company.

1997
Alexander Sollberger takes over management of the company.


Hallwag Kümmerly+Frey

2002
Hallwag acquires Kümmerly+Frey cartography and founds Hallwag Kümmerly+Frey AG as a new company.

2012
Anniversary: 100 years of Hallwag

2015
Markus Schneider becomes Managing Director.

2016
Hallwag Kümmerly+Frey is 100% integrated into the MairDumont publishing group as an independent subsidiary.