Chinese tourists admiring the view and learning about Switzerland's first weather station at Saentis
NEUCHATEL, SWITZERLAND – Figures for the Swiss Hotel industry in November, published 16 January, confirm the likely impact of the high Swiss franc, with the number of overnight stays down by 0.2 percent. Swiss visitors increased, up 2 percent, while foreign visitors diminished, with their stays down by 2 percent.
The total of overnight stays was 1.8 million, with a drop of 3,000 overnights for the month, with foreigners having 19,000 fewer overnight stays.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss hotels could be exempt from paying value-added tax in 2012-13 to help them fight business lost because of the high Swiss franc, if a lower house committee vote is duplicated in the upper house.
The finance and economy commission voted 13-12 Tuesday 10 January to make one exception to its refusal to review measures to help fight the over-valued franc, in agreeing to give the hotel industry a year’s grace starting in April 2012.
Chinese tourists overtake Italians, catching up with French, British
Chinese tourists on Mt Saentis 29 October, next to Switzerland's first mountain peak weather station, commissioned in 1882: on a clear day six countries are visible from this point
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss franc continues to have a strong impact on European and US visitors to Switzerland, with the number of overnight stays by foreigners in September down 6.8 percent compared to the same month a year earlier.
Foreigners accounted for a little more than half of the industry’s 3.3 million overnight stays in September.
The overall figure for the year to date is down 2 percent, but in September overnight stays fell 3.4 percent.
The decline in European stays continued, with Bern attributing this largely to the over-valued Swiss franc against sterling and the euro. Visits by foreigners were down 6 percent, but European visitors’ stays fell by 11 percent.
German tourist numbers were down 13 percent, British 13 percent, Dutch 12 and Italian 11 percent. US visitors are down 9.4 percent, although the number of overnight stays by Canadians rose
Chinese tourists to Switzerland: rapid increase as Alps tug Asians
Mt Saentis 30 October: a popular destination for German tourists, is attracting Chiense visitors
Asian numbers and in particular overnight stays by Chinese tourists continue to rise, with a 12 percent overall increase that includes a 43 percent increase by Chinese visitors, some 20,000 overnight stays. For the year to date, Chinese tourists show a 58.6 percent increase.
Germany remains by far Switzerland’s largest tourist client country, with some 470,000 overnights to date in September. The US was second with 172,000, Britain third with 152,000, France fourth with 100,000 – and then the surprise of China, with 67,000 overtaking Italy, with 65,000.
Wanted: British skiers, snowboarders, holiday fans and winter hikers
The British figures are likely to cause particular concern, with the crucial ski season coming up. Swiss statistics show 1.43 million overnights from January to the end of September, and the fourth quarter tends to be low, but the industry is holding its breath looking at winter ski season reservations.
British statistics register “visits” by its citizens abroad rather than overnight stays, and in 2010 the number of visits was down to 896,000 from a 2008 figure of 1.16 million. The first quarter of the year, with the ski season, saw 294,000 British visitors in 2011, compared to 350,000 a year earlier.
British tourists travelled again in the second quarter of 2011, but with the weakening pound, travel increased to North America, remained stable in the European Union and dropped to countries outside the EU, which includes Switzerland. Travel outside the EU during April to the end of June was at a level last seen in 2009 and before that, iln 2005.
Long before Steig Larsson provided chilling murders Swedish-style, there was Henning Mankel
By Bob Evans
Ystad's police don't mind posing for photos by crime-fiction loving tourists
YSTAD, SWEDEN – “This is a great place to bring up children,” says police inspector and mother-of-two Charlotte Lindh as parents and children pass by heading to an open-air flea market on a bright Saturday morning. “Ystad is a very peaceful place.”
At the other end of Stora Ostergatan, the main street through the southern Swedish port and market town, milling shoppers halt on the main square to applaud parading military bands from Germany and Austria and Scottish pipers, in town for an annual festival.
The bookshop just off the square, Stortorget, is crowded as are the cafe terraces around it, the waiters threading through the tables balancing trays with coffees and pre-lunch drinks.
Just like any small provincial European town in the seasonal sunshine on the first day of a warm, late summer weekend?
Perhaps, but Ystad, with its 17,000-odd regular inhabitants, is different. For millions of thriller fans around the world, the medieval idyll of brightly painted thatched cottages and “olde worlde”—but with all mod cons—hotels is the murder-and-mayhem capital of Scandinavia.
Thank you, Inspector Wallander
Around its narrow cobblestone streets, the thoroughfares of the modern suburbs and the port, stalk the shades of the police heroes and heroines—as well as the villains—of the 11 “Wallander” novels of 63-year-old Swedish writer Henning Mankel.
Three series of Swedish television films based around the Wallander character, eagerly snatched up by broadcasters across the globe, have added many more mystery stories to the canon—all with plots approved by the author.
And Irish-born international star actor Kenneth Branagh has played the key role in British television versions—also popular in Sweden—of several of the novels, with more being shot around the town this autumn.
First launched into the world by Mankel in 1991, the gruff, introspective Inspector Kurt Wallander of the Ystad police has tracked killers and other assorted villains through the town and the picture postcard countryside beyond.
The death rate in each novel runs at an average of four.
The mainly quiet streets of Ystad, but just around the corner ...
Right there on Stortorget, the unathletic, fast-food addict divorcee inspector has a fight to the death to stop a criminal master-mind wrecking the world economy in an intricate international operation to be climaxed with a card slipped into an ATM machine.
In one of the films, a suicide bomber seizes the minister of defence on the square and in another a hostage-taker blows himself up there when he is cornered by Wallander and his team of male and female detectives.
In leisure moments, the inspector frequents the bookshop and the cafes. But a street away he finds the murdered body of a police colleague and just outside the square the crooked local member of parliament is shot dead despite a heavy police guard.
“One could say it is a pity that our quiet town has to become known for all this fictional violence,” says hotelier Peter Schonstrom, whose “Anno 1793 Sekel Garden,” built into a medieval tannery, features in two Wallander books.
“But I am not complaining. It certainly brings in business.”
Schonstrom’s hotel offers, without fanfare, a Wallander suite.
Tourists stream to Ystad for a closer look
Tourists meet the local cows, hiking down from the Jungfraujoch
BERN, SWITZERLAND – July 2011 was not the disaster for Swiss tourism that some people expected, given the high Swiss franc, but European visitors’ overnight stays were down by 3.5 percent compared to July 2010, with foreigners’ overnight stays down 4 percent.
Two of Switzerland’s traditionally largest groups of European visitors, Germans and the British, were down 11.6 and 10.5 percent respectively.
The Swiss Statistical Office attributes the drop to the combination of a very high franc and unusually cold, wet weather for mid-summer.
Chinese (without Hong Kong) tourists, while still a small part of the overall number, had a positive impact with a 61 percent increase, to 76,787 overnight stays. Germans had 527,612, the largest group.
For the first six months of the year, Chinese visitors’ overnight stays rose 42.5 percent, faster than Indian visitors’, which increased by more than 25 percent, and the Chinese are now not far behind Indians as a key tourist group.
Geneva Festival fireworks (photo, ©2011 Davidpc on flickr)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Geneva Festival was a great success in 2011, pulling in more than 500,000 visitors for the Saturday night fireworks alone, says the city’s tourism office, but the downside was that the number of thefts and amount of vandalism rose. Overall, some 1.8 million visitors took part in the 10 days of festivities 4-14 August, which featured 200 free concerts, 170 food and drink stands and 75 stallholders.
The festivities closed without major incident, says the city, thanks to mediators and “the massive security arrangements deployed involving the cantonal and municipal forces,” says Geneva Tourism in a statement issued Sunday night.
“The Geneva Festival Steering Committee regrets, however, the upsurge in antisocial behaviour leading
to the destruction of infrastructures such as toilets set up for the public convenience, tags and ripping
of tents and the sabotage of generators, not to mention the theft and inconvenience carried out by an
army of pickpockets and bonneteau players. The public, the merchants as well as the guest of honour,
were all victims of these abuses. As a result, GT&C urges the concerned authorities to carefully take
these issues into consideration in order to put an end to this nuisance particularly harmful to the image
of the Geneva Festival and Geneva itself.”
Swiss mountain passes are popular with bikers in summer
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The police in Vaud handed their Valais police colleagues a nice story Wednesday morning, of a local man in his 40s stopped for going 130kph on his motorcyle in a 50 zone. The man was going through the village of Crassier, near the Vaud/French border and the French town of Divonne.
The news comes just as police in Valais announced, Wednesday morning, the details of a safety and accident prevention day for motorcyclists Saturday 25 June in Bourg-St-Pierre, in Valais.
Motorcyclists are 20 times more at risk of serious injury or death than occupants of a car, statistics show.
One-third of biker accidents due to inappropriate speed
One-third of motorcycle accidents are linked to the rider losing control of his or her bike due to excessive or inappropriate speeds. Valais police note that two motorcyclists have lost their lives in just the one canton to date this year.
Number of deaths down, but serious injuries up: 1,435 in 2009 in Switzerland
The prevention day is part of a safety campaign that is tied to the heavy use of Swiss mountain passes by motorcyclists in summer, but also a drive by the Swiss to reduce the number of road deaths and serious injuries.
Airlines, tourist reservations in Europe also seeing strong growth
Swiss chalet spying: Brazilians, Indians, Chinese and Americans came in larger numbers in March
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Overnight stays in Swiss hotels, the standard measure of the tourism industry’s health, rose to 3.3 million, a 2.3 percent increase in March 2011 compared to March 2010. The latest figures were released by the Swiss statistical office Monday 9 May.
Foreign tourist stays increased slightly, by 1.1 percent, while Swiss tourist traffic was up 3.9 percent.
The strongest growth came from Asia, with Europe the only region not registering growth. India led the way for Asia, with 5,000 more overnight stays, followed by China with an increase of 4,900.
Brazil had the strongest overall increase, up 5,900 overnight stays, with the US having 4,300 more.
The largest drop was the UK: British tourists spent 30,000 fewer nights in Swiss hotels in March than they did a year earlier: the 16 percent fall was the largest of any one country.
Tourism in general is picking up
Overnight stays up in Switzerland despite strong franc
Bern's new riverside bear pit is a popular attraction, although crowds thin on a snowy day
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The number of visitors to Switzerland rose in January despite record highs for the Swiss franc at the start of 2011. Asian tourists provided a strong boost, with numbers up 5.4 percent. Tourism, calculated on the basis of overnight stays, rose 1.6 percent overall, compared to January 2010.
The overall increase in foreign tourists was 0.4 percent.
Fewer Germans and Italians, but Belgians made up for it
The good news hides a worrisome fall in the number of German tourists, down by 5,000 overnight stays (-1 percent) compared to a year earlier. Ski resorts in German-speaking areas in Switzerland, notably Graubuenden, rely heavily on German tourists, but the canton nevertheless showed an increase of 10,000 nights for the month.
The British had 4,300 fewer nights and Italians 3,600 fewer nights, in Switzerland as a whole.
Swiss tourism in 2010: not gloomy despite the high franc (a room with a dark but not gloomy view: hotel window in canton Valais, overlooking full moon, Alps and castle tower)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Trade figures for Switzerland released 22 February show continuing solid growth in exports in January despite the strong franc at the start of the year, and a relatively strong performance by the tourism industry overall in 2010.
Exports grew 4.4 percent in January compared to December, which had month-on-month growth of 4.3 percent. Pharmaceutical prices fell under strong price pressure, but this was offset by the watch and machinery demand.
The trade surplus for January was CHF2.0 million, with exports of (rounded figures) CHF15.2m and imports of CHF13.3m.
Tourism final figures for 2010 show increases except for European visitors
According to final 2010 figures published 22 February by the Federal Statistical Office, the number of overnight stays registered in the Swiss hotel industry in 2010 was 36.2 million, a rise of 1.7 percent, or 619,000 overnight stays more than in 2009. Swiss demand was up 2.2 percent and that of foreign visitors 1.4 percent. “Overnight stays by visitors from the European continent (excluding Switzerland) showed a decrease of 2 percent”, according to the FSO press release, likely reflecting the rise of the Swiss franc against the euro.
Overnight stays were spread unequally, with Basel, Geneva and Zurich all having hotels closer to capacity, at more than 60 percent, than other parts of the country, while Neuchatel was under 30 percent.
Slide became clear in December
The year-end tourism figures are optimistic, but they hide a slide in overnight stays in December: down 3.3 percent compared to December 2009, with foreigners’ overnight stays down 7.4 percent. Germany, one of Switzerland’s key countries for tourism, sent 8.7 percent, less than Belgium (-39 percent) and Italy (-17 percent) in percentage terms, but the largest drop in absolute terms, with 36,000 fewer German overnight stays. UK tourist numbers fell by 13,000 in December, possibly linked to the weak pound.
Despite the relatively weak dollar, US visitors increased by 3,000 in December. And China showed the largest absolute increase, with 3,500 more visitors.
Bern to give tourism industry financial boost
The ruling Swiss Federal Council 16 February announced a series of measures to help industries that are most hurt by a strong franc, including tourism. The governmen is increasing tourism promotion budgets for 2011 and 2012 by CHF12 million to offset the continuing strength of the Swiss franc, citing the lag time between a higher currency and its impact on the number of visitors.
Links to other sites: Swiss Federal Customs office (Fre), Reuters
Diableret, canton Vaud, still drawing skiers
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – All eyes have been on Davos this week for the World Economic Forum (WEF), which also means journalists covering it have had a chance to ski there. And they says that what they’ve seen confirms what they suspected: the strong Swiss franc is keeping foreign tourists away. The problem is, they have the story wrong.
The franc has appreciated 9 percent against the dollar in the past 12 months and 18 percent against the euro. Mountain visitors account for 47 percent of Swiss overnight stays, so if resorts are in a slump, Swiss tourism will be hurting.
But they have the story wrong
Not just an uphill battle for resorts, despite the franc's strength (photo: Les Mosses, juncture between Vaud and Bernese Alps)
There are two problems with this: one is that Davos is far from representative of Swiss ski resorts, and the other is that while shop and hotelkeepers grumble everywhere that business is down, statistics show that the situation is far from dire.
Skiers are still coming to Switzerland, and in substantial numbers, and this despite a strong franc and a snow base that is adequate if not as deep as many skiers would like, especially in parts of canton Valais.
2011 decrease of 2-3 percent expected
Véronique Kanel at the Swiss national tourism office in Zurich puts the currency problem in perspective. “We are concerned that the impact of the strong Swiss franc will be increasingly felt by the tourism industry over the coming months. Switzerland Tourism believes that a decrease of 3-5 percent in overnights for 2011 (not only the winter season) for markets of the euro zone, and overall, a decrease of 2-3 percent in all overnights would be realistic, should the euro remain at its current level against the Swiss franc.”
Statistics to the end of November 2010, the latest available, show an overall 2.4 percent decrease in overnight stays from January to end-November for the five euro currency countries that bring in 50 percent of the foreigners visiting Switzerland: Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium. Two other important markets for the Swiss are Britain and the US, both of which have currencies that have weakened against the franc.
November and December were good and January promising, but some dips
But overnight stays from the US rose nearly 9 percent in 2010, and the number of visitors was up nearly 11 percent in 2010, bouncing back from a 2009 dip.
And November was generally a good month, with hotel overnights up 4.9 percent during this weakest months of the winter season. Christmas and New Year’s traffic was good at most resorts, with canton Valais, for example, saying it was at 90 percent of capacity for bookings up to New Year’s. Canton Vaud told Swiss public television TSR in late December that books for January were relatively strong.
The Matterhorn's appeal is perennial, no matter where the Swiss franc stands
Zermatt saw things somewhat differently, but it depends more heavily on foreign traffic than some resorts. Daniel Luggen has an upbeat take on the situation:
“It is certainly not an easy time for Swiss tourism, especially for a destination like Zermatt, where 70 percent of the guests are coming from abroad. We have felt the influence during this last two months in terms of fewer overnights, with December down approximately 8 percent and January down about 10 percent, but also in the consuming habits of the guests. Thanks to a strong number of loyal vistors, the decrease was not too bad—among the Zermatt guests there are 75 percent repeaters.
“Even though we would appreciate it if the Swiss franc would lose its power, the decrease has also a good side: Zermatt suppliers actually have more time to take care of and pamper their guests.”
A personal observation from this journalist: easyJet at Geneva airport, which carries hordes of British skiers, continues to have large crowds.
Davos is different. It and most of canton Graubuenden rely very heavily on German tourists, so when the Germans stay away, the drop can be dramatic. And while the slopes are magnificent, some skiers would rather be on them when the WEF show and military presence have ended.
Riot police used tear gas to dislodge striking workers at the Acropolis site in Athens, Greece 14 October. Many of the workers are on short-term contracts that will not be renewed at the end of the month because of Greece’s austerity measures. Other workers claim they have not been paid for 22 months.
The historical site, Greece’s most important tourist draw, had been closed for two days. Strikers protesting the austerity measures have closed ports and archeological sites this past summer, often stranding tourists. Tourism is a major element in Greece’s economy, and revenues have been down almost eight percent in 2010.
Links to other sites: BBC, Daily Telegraph, RTT News
GenevaLunch photo albums: Grimentz désalpe (cows come down from the high alps), with 40 images of this picture-book town in September and Geo Chavez centenary celebrations of first flight over the Alps
Geo Chavez centenary, flying over Valais vineyards
Grimentz, Valais, the desalpe, when the cows come home for the winter
(Update) Brig and Grimentz, canton Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Tourists flocked to Valais over the weekend for a series of events that had one thing in common, motion.
Cold weather, rain and snow at higher altitudes closed the Furka, Grimsel and Nufennan passes, but the valleys thrummed with activity.
The centenary of the first airplane flight over the Alps took place near Brig and the skies were speckled with antique planes to commemorate French-Peruvian adventurer Geo Chavez’s feat.
The cows came down from the high alps to Grimentz, the traditional désalpe, decked out in flower headdresses. And hundreds of people flocked to watch the last fighting cows match of the season at the arena in Raron.
Cows come home for the winter: in Valais, a local fete rather than tourist event
The Grimentz désalpe is a fete for the locals, rather than tourists, when the short black Val d’Herens breed of cows come down the steep mountainside to the village where they winter.
The old village, one of the most charming in central canton Valais because of the number and good condition of its tightly-packed wooden houses, attracts tourists year-round. The autumn return of the cows remains primarily a local affair, however, with a parade of cows bedecked in ribbons and flower hats that have been carefully prepared by the smallholders who own the animals.
Traditional clothes are pulled out of the closet with equal care and Alpine horns, yodeling and traditional singing accompany the cows to the bottom of the village, where cheese and sausage and local wines are served.
Fighting cows meet for the final match of the season
Another Valais tradition is in no danger of dying out: matches between fighting cows, the Val d’Herens breed, take place in arenas from April to late September. The cows, left to themselves, fight in fields every Spring to determine the leader of the herd, the toughest but also the smartest, as a rule—the cow that will lead the others to the best grazing areas, who knows the mountain. This breed gives smaller quantities of milk than many, but the cows are treasured as excellent animals for handling the mountains. And betting on the animals when they fight in an arena is a popular tradition.
Rarogne’s outdoor arena Sunday 26 September was packed with hundreds of spectators to watch what turned out to be a fine show: Bambino fought several adversaries for nearly three-quarters of an hour, an unusually long session, even flipping one of the other cows, before she gave in to Santano.
The two have now qualified for the 2011 finals, which means they won’t be worn out by early Spring qualifying matches, which they can skip to build up their strength.
Geo Chavez left an Alpine flying legacy: “Higher. Always higher”
Geo Chavez last, and historic trip
Old planes gathered near Brig to commemorate the first flight, by Geo Chavez, over the Alps in 1910
Jorge Chavez Dartnell, also known as Geo Chavez, was a 23-year-old French-Peruvian pilot and adventurer when he stepped into his Blériot XI plane in Brig 27 September 1910 to fly over the Alps to Domodossola, Italy.
An Italian flying club was offering $20,000 to the first person to fly over the Alps, at a time when gaining altitude in planes was one of the key challenges.
Chavez made it over, but crashed on landing in the Italian town. He was conscious, but died four days later from major loss of blood.
His last words were reportedly “Higher. Always higher.” He has since become an icon in the world of flying.
Flying clubs from several countries gathered in force 23-26 September in the Brig-Simplon area to commemorate that first Alpine flight.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t fly over the Alps because wintry weather, with high winds, rain and snow made it too dangerous for the small craft.
Chavez would have commiserated: he tried to fly over several times in the days preceding his historic flight, but was turned back by bad weather.
Hiking in the Swiss Alps, among the vines near Salgesch/Salquenen in Valais
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Federal Council has approved a four-point plan to strengthen the tourism industry in Switzerland in order to increase revenue and create more jobs. The Alpine regions are a large part of the new focus.
Tourism accounts for 3 percent of Switzerland’s economic activity and 4.2 percent of the workforce, or the equivalent of 151,000 fulltime jobs.
The finance ministry, Seco, has been given the task of developing specific programmes to carry out the strategy, with the first programmes ready for 2012.
The strategy centres around four areas:
- to increase market share in the Alpine region, taking into account sustainable development
- create high quality jobs
- increase the added value for regions
- framework for tourism firms needs to be improved and the tourism offer in general made more attractive.
Thailand’s government is trying to put a pricetag on the cost to its tourism industry of the protests which turned violent in recent weeks. It estimates that losses were at least $2 billion, but numbers could go higher as officials obtain figures from the industry. The government released travel figures Wednesday 3 June showing that while traffic to Phuket International Airport has risen steadily since January, travel to Bangkok’s airport in May fell 30 percent compared to the same period in 2009. Thailand’s tourism office is preparing a set of incentives to encourage travellers to return, but it appears likely it will put the initial emphasis on the countryside, rather than the capital.
Links to other sites: Canadian Press, Daily Travel News
American tourists should be back, even if euro spenders are down
Lucerne and its Four Cantons lake is a favourite with US tourists
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The latest tourism forecast for the Swiss government by BakBasel shows overnight stays expected to drop slightly during the May-October summer season, down 0.7 percent, mainly due to the weak euro and unemployment in Europe. But American tourists are expected to return after a 2009 summer where they were scarce on the ground. The latest figures for the winter season that has just ended show what Bern describes as a surprising increase, up 0.2 percent.
The tourism industry will remain in something of a slump in 2011, but should see growth again, 17 percent, in 2012.
A new logo, fresh coat of paint and ID as a commuter boat on Lake Geneva
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The CGN (Compagnie Générale de la Navigation) has painted its commuter boats dark blue, given them their own logo with an identity that will be used for signs on quays and elsewhere, and created a web site that also works well on commuters’ iPhones.
The four cross-border lines have been colour-coded and given numbers, like other public transport bus, train and tram lines. Welcome aboard the new NaviMobilité system!
For the more than 1.22 million commuters in the Lake Geneva region who used the seven fast service boats in 2009, the clearer focus on their needs will be undoubtedly be welcome. The new website, navimobilite.ch, offers schedules, prices and practical information far more quickly and easily than in the past, for the four cross-border routes, with up to 92 runs a day between France and Switzerland:
Tourism up strongly, unemployment down slightly, retail sales slip
Geneva continues to have highest jobless rate
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss economic indicators this week are showing a mixed picture, with several federal statistics published Friday. Overnight stays rose by 5 percent overall and by 6 percent for foreign visitors in March, compared to March 2009, an increase of 153,000 stays for the month.
The good news continues with unemployment, which fell from 4.2 percent in March to 4.0 percent in April, representing 7,462 fewer people on the unemployment office books, but the figure is still 16 percent higher than a year earlier. Geneva and Vaud both saw an improvement, with Neuchatel showing one of the greatest drops, from 7 percent to 6.5, but all three continue to have higher rates than the rest of the country. Geneva’s rate, at 7.2 percent, remains the highest cantonal unemployment rate in Switzerland.
Less positive were figures for retail sales, down 0.9 percent for the month of March compared to February.
Airlines cost estimate: €1.5-2.5b
The European Commission said Wednesday that April’s volcanic ash debacle, which closed airspace in much of Europe for several days, cost the tourism industry at least €1 billion, mainly to travel agents, tour operators and hotels, said the commission’s vice president, Antonio Tajani, responsible for industry and entrepreneurship. The initial estimates were accompanied by first figures for the cost to airlines, expected to be €1.5-2.5 billion.
Arvinis welcomes American wines for the wine fair’s 15th year
Wine fair offers easy way to discover Swiss wines
Napa Valley, California vineyards, October 2009 (click to view larger)
Morges, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Morges is offering a fine pair of anniversary bouquets starting Wednesday 14 April. The first tulips are opening at the lakeside park which is home to the annual Tulip Festival, and the popular wine fair Arvinis opens its doors. This is the 40th anniversary of the Tulip Festival, which runs from 2 April to 16 May, and the 15th anniversary of Arvinis, which is the largest wine fair in the Lake Geneva region. It offers visitors some 2,500 wines to sample during its six-day run.
Arvinis serves as a harbinger of spring, with wine villages throughout the country holding their open houses in the weeks that follow. The guest of honour for 2010 is the California Wine Institute.
Lake Geneva boats connect France with Vaud and Geneva in Switzerland
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Boat trips on Lake Geneva will go up by 5.5 percent in 2011, the CGN (Compagnie Générale de la Navigation) has announced, with smaller price increases on the Lausanne-Thonon line starting 1 June 2010. The 2011 ticket prices go into effect 12 December 2010, when Swiss public transport companies put new rates into effect. The Swiss federal government ordered public transport companies to delay price hikes in 2009, with the result that in 2010-11 they will be steeper than usual. The CGN says its increase is slightly under the average for Swiss public transport companies.
The CGN distinguishes between its tourist boats and public transport, with plans to develop more public transport in the next few years. The company’s traffic on the lake has grown steadily since 2002: from 1.37 to 1.85 million in 2009.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The city of Geneva is registering a trademark, a new logo and branding project put together for it by Saatchi & Saatchi at a cost of CHR200,ooo, according to Geneva’s tourism office, which unveiled the logo Monday 1 March.
“Genève, a world of its own” is the new trademark phrase in its English version, with a logo in blue, white and gray that shows a stylized jet d’eau. The French: “Genève un monde en soi”.
The rationale for the new trademark is to boost tourism and give the city a clearer identity, but also to coordinate the image marketing efforts of various groups that promote Geneva, says the tourism office. The city’s mayor, head of the Palexpo exhibition centre, tourism office and the hoteliers’ association all participated in the launch of the new identity kit.
The phrase has already been used, less formally, in city tourist marketing materials. Geneva has been running a teaser campaign for the past two weeks to raise public awareness, with a photo contest (still running, until the end of Monday 1 March) and gifts, discounts and prizes offered by Geneva companies at www.rejoignez-nous.ch.
The idea behind the phrase and the art is to underscore the variety the city has to offer and to reflect Geneva’s image as a city that is “traditional, modern, natural, sophisticated, multicultural and cosmopolitan,” the tourism office notes.
Not the chalet in Verbier, this one
Verbier, canton Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Tourists have been the victims of a scam where they paid for a non-existent chalet in the Valais ski resort of Verbier, according to the canton’s police. The scam consists in transferring money to a bank account only to find on arrival in Verbier that the chalet does not exist. Several people have complained to the Valais police, who have responded by giving some tips to would-be renters. They explain that little can be done about a scam after the fact.
The chalet was advertised on a site that has since been dismantled.
Image 2010: Bakbasel
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Lech in Austria and Lucerne in Switzerland were the two most popular seasonal tourist destinations in the Alpine region in 2009: Lech in winter and Lucerne in summer. Switzerland has three destinations among the overall top 10 for the year: Lucerne, Zurich and Engelberg. But a report published 21 January on tourism in the region shows Austrian resorts well ahead of Swiss ones as popular winter resorts, taking the first seven places, with Zermatt in eighth. Zermatt gains ground as a year-round destination because it is also popular in summer.
Switzerland: great trains, great mountains, but fewer visitors in 2009
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government’s figures for tourism during the summer of 2009, from May to October, show a gloomy picture, with a 4.2 percent drop in the number of overnight stays compared to 2008. Swiss tourists fell by 2.1 percent but a sharp drop in foreign tourism, down 5.8 percent had a significant impact.
Overall, the Swiss tourism industry registered 19.7 million overnight stays for the summer season.
Exports, port of Basel
Update 11:40 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland officially moved out of recession in the third quarter of 2009, Bern announced Tuesday 1 December. Real GDP (gross domestic product) was up 0.3 percent compared to the previous quarter. Private consumption (+0.6 percent) and building investments both grew, and healthcare plus the financial and insurance industries also rose. Investments were up “massively”, with industrial goods investments rising by 5.5 percent.
The government’s own “consumption expenditure” rose by 1.3 percent.
Exports of goods and services both climbed, by 2.2 and 0.3 percent respectively, for the first time “after a considerable one-year slide” the government statement reports.
Photo: Seco
Basel / Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss economy remains relatively steady, but with Credit Suisse’s Swiss manufacturing index dropping slightly and the forecast for tourism showing lower but stable figures in coming months. The manufacturing figures “still [show] however that the Alpine economy is leaving the deep recession behind,” reports news agency Reuters. The tourism forecast is gloomier and follows publication of figures by BakBasel, an economic research institute, showing that tourism from November 2008 to October 2009 was the second lowest since the end of the second world war: only 1995 was lower.
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Basel area was the only Swiss region to see an increase in overnight stays in July, 9.6 percent as compared to July 2008, according to Swiss Statistics, the federal statistics office. The city registered 11,000 overnight stays in July.
The total for Switzerland was 4.1 million in July, down 5 percent over last year, although hotel stays by Swiss tourists were down only 2.9 percent. The number of visitors from Germany and the UK showed the greatest declines.
Lake Geneva
Complete coverage of the WCC-3 by GenevaLunch
Conference is 31 August – 4 September 2009
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Geneva is home this week to a key global conference on how the world can adapt to climate change – disasters such as floods and hurricanes, but also the more subtle changes that affect agriculture, tourism and daily life.
The conference agenda is wide-ranging and includes improvements to early warning systems for disasters and how to provide more precise and more localized weather forecasting, needed by developing countries as well as industries in the developed world.
The meeting is hosted by Switzerland and organized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and a group of partners.
Consumer spending, Switzerland
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Figures published by the Swiss federal government 4-6 August for tourism and the consumer price index, taken with the latest federal quarterly survey of consumer spending, show a mixed economic picture.
