BERN, SWITZERLAND – A Swiss woman kidnapped in Yemen in March appears in a video that has been published on the Internet, but according to Swiss public broadcasting RTS it is not yet certain if the film is authentic: the woman is completely veiled and wearing sunglasses, and says she is in the hands of Al-Qaida rebels. The Swiss Foreign Affairs Department told RTS it is studying the film.
The woman was teaching in a language school in Hodeida when she was kidnapped in mid-March and there have reportedly been demands for a ransom.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A high-speed chase Monday 9 April at 17:00 that started near Gros-de-Vaud in canton Vaud, with the cars getting up to 200kph, ended in Echallens in front of a parking lot with the arrest of the 24-year-old Swiss driver. His companion was taken in for questioning and released once it was clear he was not behind the wheel.
Police were alerted by a caller who reported a red BMW 135i for dangerous driving near Chavorney. A squad car picked up the trail of the car, which fled when the driver spotted the police officers. He drove towards Corcelles-sur-Chavornay then Penthéréaz, committing a number of serious road crimes, say police, including cutting off another car and bumping it before continuing. The driver dropped off his passenger at one point near some woods, and the passenger thumbed a lift but was picked up shortly by police.
The car was clocked doing 130kph going through communes and 200kph on cantonal roads during the chase.
The driver, who was over the legal limit for alcohol and whose license was suspended, was jailed after being quesstioned Monday night, and the car was confiscated.
13-year high in car sales in Switzerland in 2010
New cars in Switzerland: December 2011 registrations were all-time record
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss Automobile Importers Association has come out firmly against Bern’s announcement last week that the autoroute sticker (road tax) price will jump from CHF40 to 100. Its argument, in aligning itself with truckers associations, is that some of the road tax money will be used to finance the country’s rail system starting in 2030, but the group also argues that the federal coffers have a reserve of 1.7 billion for roads and the tax should not be increased until this falls to CHF0.5 billion.
The rationale for the announced increase is to speed up road improvements that are needed as the number of cars on the road grows quickly. The importers association has just published figures showing that the past two years have seen a significant hike in the number of cars imported into Switzerland, which does not have a major car manufacturing company of its own.
The Swiss Automobile Importers Association notes that in 2011 the country imported and sold 318,958 and by comparison in 2010 the figure was 294,239 cars. The 2011 sales show a 10.6 percent increase in the past two years, with a year-on-year increase of 8.4 percent in 2011 alone.
Last year was the first in a decade when more than 300,000 new cars were registered in Switzerland and the only previous years when sales were higher were 1988, 1989 and 1990. December 2011 is the best sales month that the importers association has ever recorded.
The association points out that new Swiss CO2 reduction regulations for cars go into effect in May 2012 and must be applied to all new cars registered as of 1 July 2012. The change aligns Switzerland with European Union regulations. The one exception is cars brough in from abroad that were registered abroad at least six months before they are imported.
Switzerland's tallest building, the 36-sstorey Prime Tower in Zurich, December 2011
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Zurich’s Prime Tower opened officially 6 December in the increasingly trendy West Zurich area, and the skyline of the city is now officially 126 metres tall, where buildings are concerned.
The new tower is Switzerland’s highest habitable building, although it is due to be overtaken in 2015 by Basel’s new Roche tower, under construction, that will be 175m.
The Prime Tower at Maagplatz 3 has been completely rented to what the owners, Swiss Prime Site AG, call tenants from “mainly the upscale services sector”: 36 percent are financial firms, 44 percent legal and other services, 6 percent executive search companies. Chemicals and technology firms are 5 percent of the tenants and gastronomy and retail are 7 percent.
Clouds, a restaurant, bistro bar and lounge on the top floor, opens to the public 12 December.
The 36-storey, 40,000m2 tower has room for 2,000 workers (3,500 with all four buildings on the site), 250 parking places and a restaurant/bar at the top, with a conference center on the second to the top floor.
Owners Swiss Prime Site invested CHF380 million for the site, which houses four buildings by Zurich architects Gigon/Guyer Architekten. It expects to have annual rent income of CHF29 million.
The Zurich West area, an old industrial zone that is being renovated, is expected to see the number of workers grow from 20,000 today to 30,000 by 2015, and the number of residents climb from 3,000 to 7,000, according to Swiss Prime Site.
The Hardbrücke railway station, which serves the area, is slated for renovation and expansion.
Escalade runners, Geneva, 3 December 2011 (photo, ©2011 Mr Kio on flickr)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The pre-Christmas holiday season took off running in Geneva, as it does every year with the traditional Escalade races.
The city had relatively clement weather Saturday 3 December for the runs, compared to many years.
Snow and sleet were absent and the drizzle wasn’t a freezing one.
Ed. note: we’ve created a GenevaLunch album of photos from the races by Mr Kio on flickr.
Portuguese runner Clarisse Cruz, age 33, became the first non-African woman to win the women’s race since 1998.
She finished the 4.79km race in 15’36, 7″ ahead of Kenyan Jane Muia and 14” ahead of Kenyan Caroline Chepkwony, who won in 2010.
Kenyan Paul Kipkorir won the men’s race, repeating his 2010 victory and giving Kenya 10 of the last 12 Escalade races.
The distance runner placed first with 20’45 for the 7.25 km city run, coming in 5″ ahead of Geneva’s Tadesse Abraham and 6” ahead of Kenyan Milton Rotich.
Escalade runners, Geneva, 3 December 2011 (photo, ©2011 Mr Kio on flickr)
The Escalade is celebrated from the day of the race to the city centre festival a few days later that commemorates the 1602 failed invasion of Geneva by Savoyard troops.
Costumes, Mère Royaume’s piping hot soup served in the Old Town and marmites, little three-legged traditional soup pots made out of chocolate and filled with treats, will replace this Sunday’s runners, and snow is reported to be on the way. Expect the same cheerful holiday crowds. Details, Geneva Tourism
Motorcyclist brakes too hard on seeing radar in Neuchatel
NEUCHATEL, SWITZERLAND – A motorcyclist going 107 kph in an 80 zone suddenly spotted a radar Sunday 2 October and hit the brakes – a little too hard, and over he went.
The radar caught him hitting the ground. Miraculously, he wasn’t injured, except for his pride and his pocketbook for he now faces a hefty fine and is likely to see his license lifted for three months.
Police in Neuchatel say they caught 18 motorcyclists speeding, in two radar checks in the canton’s mountains last Sunday. They are urging motorcyclists to use greater caution.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The 28-year-old Swiss luxury limousine driver who passed you in his Bentley Continental the night of 21 April (you didn’t even spot him?) at more than 320kph on the A1 near the Vengeron exit no longer has a driver’s license and he will have to face a judge over charges of very seriously endangering the lives of others.
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In addition to driving more than 200kph over the speed limit police investigators say he held his cell phone up to the speedometer while driving, to make three videos.
The videos show clearly that he covered 90 metres a second, according to police.
The videos were seized by a special unit of the Vaud police, who interviewed the driver in September. He claimed initially to have had a passenger who did the filming, but police say they have evidence he was travelling alone. The three films were made between 03:31 and 03:36, between Coppet and the Vengeron interchange.
Director Jean-Jacques Gauer, Executive chef Edgard Bovier, GaultMillau Editor-in-chief Urs Heller, Albrecht Haake from Carl F Bucherer, which co-sponsors the prize
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The Lausanne Palace has been named Switzerland’s best hotel for 2011 by GaultMillau, an honour conferred, says the food and hospitality organization, in part because it goes well beyond meeting the norms for a five-star hotel, but with the record-breaking 58 points accumulated by its executive chef weighing in its favour.
GaultMillau attributes some of the success to the CHF60 million quietly invested in the past 10 years in the 146 rooms and 30 suites, thanks to a solid partnership between German owner Ute Funke and the hotel & spa’s managing director, Jean-Jacques Gauer. But it says that executive chef Edgard Bovier has earned more points, when all the restaurants he oversees are taken together, than any other chef:
La Table d’Edgard (17 points)
Le Côté Jardin (14 points)
La Brasserie du Grand-Chêne
Le Palace Sushi Zen.
Two other Lausanne restaurants have been “inspired” by Edgard Bovier, says GaultMillau: La Grappa (14 points) and Le Château d’Ouchy (13 points).
The 56-year-old Bovier, originally from canton Valais, has been working in the hotel’s kitchens for more than 40 years.
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.”
Switzerland had 1.6 percent more cars in 2010 than in 2009, but gasoline consumption was down, in favour of diesel and renewable source products (here: electric car at the Grimsel pass)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland consumed 4.4 percent more energy in 2010, including a 4 percent increase for electricity, says the Swiss Federal Energy Office.
Three main factors contributed to the rise, it notes in a statement issued Tuesday 28 June: continuing population growth, economic growth with industrial consumption up, and colder weather than usual during the 2010-11 winter.
Degree-days of heating were up 12.7 percent compared to 2009. GDP grew 2.6 percent in 2010 compared to a fall of 1.9 percent the previous year. And the population grew 1 percent during the year, with 1.6 percent more vehicle owners.
Photo taken by Andre Borschberg from Solar Impulse during Brussels-Paris flight
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Solar Impulse, the Swiss solar-powered airplane, left Brussels early Tuesday 14 June in a second attempt to fly to Paris, with weather conditions favourable. The plane left Brussels at 05:10 this morning and landed at 21:15 at Paris-Le Bourget airport, a 16:05 hour flight for pilot André Borschberg.
The plane had been in Brussels since its first European flight 14 May, across national borders and through normally crowded air corridors. The flight to Paris will allow it to participate in the world’s largest air show. Solar Impulse attempted the flight last Friday but was forced to turn back due mianly to weather conditions.
Flight conditions Tuesday were qualified by Borschberg as “excellent”.
Background, Solar Impulse, GenevaLunch
Steam train above Lake Brienz, Switzerland (photo. ©2011, Swiss Tourism / Christof Sonderegger)
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland’s national tourism office has just handed a gift to wannabe tourists, a completely revised web site that makes just about every aspect of travel in the country easier.
The overhaul of My Switzerland’s site was completed over the weekend of 4-5 June, and its new face was officially unveiled at the start of the week.
For the 24 million visitors who use the site every year, this is excellent news. MySwitzerland’s web site, published in 16 languages, has seen its traffic double in five years.
The previous version of the site was created in 2006 and while it boasted a wealth of information, it became heavy to use, by comparison with newer sites.
Swiss Tourism new site is far more than a facelift: it has been completely reworked, with a new approach to navigation that is more in line with today’s user’s expectations and that connects it better to offers from local and regional tourism offices. Searching the wealth of information in the database has become faster and the results display better.
The cost was several hundred thousand Swiss francs, but under half a million, says Swiss Tourism, in line with large web sites where the server structure and database technology have significant upgrades.
“Maximum of diversity in a minimum of space”
The tourism office puts it neatly: a maximum in terms of diversity in a minimum of space is not only a characteristic of Switzerland as a tourist destination, but a good description of the new site.
Pages are airier, less text-heavy but searches take you quickly to what at least on this user’s first try were several well-sorted results. Ironically, given the lighter look of the pages, it feels as if there is more information available.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland’s extended list of individuals from Syria, including President Bashar Al-Assad, whose assets are being blocked, is effective today, Wednesday 25 May. The government yesterday said it was expanding its 18 May list of people whose assets are frozen and who cannot travel to or through Switzerland, from 13 to 18.
The president is now listed, along with Mahir (or Maher) Al-Assad, as the mastermind of the repression against Syrian protesters, but he is also named as the organizer.
The four others added to the sanctions list are all accused of aiding repression:
Munzir Al-Assad, born 1961 (correction to earlier spelling)
Asif Shawkat, born 1950
Hisham Ikhtiyar, born 1941
Faruq Al Shar’, born 1938
Muhammad Nasif Khayrbik, born 1937
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
Zurich's Bahnhof "guardian angel", by Niki de Saint Phalle, might need to help pad travellers pocketbooks in 2012
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Hospital as well as some train fares in Switzerland are expected to rise significantly in 2012, based on preliminary remarks by a Swiss health organization and the CFF rail company Tuesday 3 May.
Santésuisse 3 May announced that it expects to see hospital costs rise by 1.6 percent overall in Switzerland, but with some significant differences around the country: Genevans can expect to pay 4.5 percent more and residents of canton Vaud 1.5 percent more, while Ticino is the rare canton that can expect to see hospitalization cost considerably less, down 7.6 percent.
Cantons will share costs
The change is due to an agreement just reached by the cantons and that goes into effect in January 2012. Hospitals have until now charged based on the cost of services delivered, but they will in future charge a fixed amount for a service, based on calculations of overall services provided throughout the country, with the cost shared and spread by the cantons. The new agreement will share hospitalization charges more equitably across the country.
Track 7, first class, year-round subscription and commune tickets to go up
Woman killed near Founex, cyclist killed, driver caught going 201 kph on Valais autoroute
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The long weekend in most of Switzerland, for Easter holidays, has seen a number of incidents on highways and local roads, including a fatal accident near Coppet, canton Vaud, on the A1 autoroute. A cyclist in Geneva was injured when he was hit by a car on the Rue de Lausanne, and two men were stopped for driving at very high speeds in canton Valais.
Woman killed at 9pm Sunday while walking on autoroute
A woman in her fifties was killed after being hit by a car while walking along the A1 autoroute on the Jura side (direction: Geneva) Sunday night 24 April, for unknown reasons. Police have not released any information about her identity. She was hit near Chavannes-des-Bois, near the Coppet/Founex/Divonnes exit, at 21:00.
Her body was thrown across the autoroute and was subsequently hit by several drivers on the lake side of the road.
The autoroute was closed between Vengeron and Coppet, except for one lane in the direction of Geneva, on the Jura side of the road.
Cyclist killed near Satigny, another cyclist injured on Rue de Lausanne in Geneva – driver flees
A 76-year-old man was killed at a roundabout between Meyrin and Satigny, near Geneva, Saturday afternoon when a 22-year-old driver hit the back of his bike for reasons not yet clear. Police are asking for witnesses to contact them at 0+41 22 427 6450.
A second Geneva accident involving a cyclist occurred late Saturday in the city centre. A driver who was headed in the direction of Versoix left the scene of the accident Saturday night near number 14, Rue de Lausanne in Geneva, after hitting the back of a bicycle that was in the pedestrian crosswalk, at 23:05. The 28-year-old woman cyclist fell from her bike and was injured. Witnesses say the car was a dark station wagon, number plates not identifiable. Police in Geneva are asking for witnesses to phone +41 22 427 6450.
Two young men lose licenses on same stretch of A9, near Fully
Canton Valais Police stopped two drivers within seconds, on the same stretch of A9 autoroute near Fully Sunday 24 April at 14:30. The first, a Portuguese man, age 26, was clocked at 201 kph, heading towards Sion. The second, a 23-year-old man from Valais, was clocked at 174 kpm. The speed limit on the autoroute is 120 kph. Police took their driver’s licenses on the spot and they are being handed over to the cantonal public attorney for prosecution as well as the highway department, which has responsibility for licenses and fines related to speeding.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Sale of CHF320 million and a profit of nearly CHF49m have given Geneva’s international airport a record year for 2010.
The airport published the figures 18 April.
Passenger numbers were up 4.91 percent for the year to 11.88 million, despite winter storms and volcanic ashes in the first part of 2010.
The number of passengers at the airport has grown by about one-third in the past 10 years.
London was the top destination in 2010, with 1.9 million flights, and Paris was the second with some 859,000 flights.
Share of traffic at Geneva Airport, by airline, 2010 (source: Geneva Airport) - click on image to view larger
The airport says it is in good financial health, with 2010 called a “transition year”, with CHF51m invested in completing renovations and starting work on a new east wing.
Robert Deillon, Geneva councillor with responsibility for the airport, said it invested CHF320m between 2006 and 2010 without turning to public funds.
Aviation revenue such as landing fees and passenger fees accounted for 49.5 percent of total income.
Non-aviation revenue, which includes income from shops (23.5 percent) was 50.5 percent of the total.
Le Simplon will rejoin the CGN fleet on Lake Geneva 14 May after a year of renovations
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The CGN boat company kicks off spring Sunday 17 April when its full fleet takes to the water on Lake Geneva.
The 2011 schedule features more than 80 commuter crossings a day between France and Switzerland on the NaviMobilite system, which has four public transport lines.
Three steamboats will run on the lake this year: La Suisse, the grande dame of the fleet, the newly renovated Le Simplon, back in mid-May after a year in the boatyard, and Le Savoie.
Two special crossings worth noting are the Friday night Asian buffets on boats from Geneva, Lausanne and Morges, and two of the Belle Epoque steamboats will offer a special Lausanne-Chateau du Chillon cruise that focuses on the vineyards of Lavaux, a Unesco World Heritage site.
Note that for the time being boats are not able to dock in St Sulpice and Bellevue due to low lake water levels.
The summer schedule operates from 7 June on.
New 2011 spring schedule: note that the spring schedule is listed under autumn in English
Swiss family boat pass, with special family rates, on the rates/prices page
Job of convincing Bern, which has the final word, could be tough, say cantonal authorities
Bridge preferred over tunnel, but both options kept
New autoroute proposal backed by canton Geneva for Lake Geneva crossing
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva is ready to push for an extension of the autoroute across the lake by 2030, arguing that it would ease city traffic by 30 percent and the ring road around Geneva by 12 percent.
The canton presented its project at a press conference Monday morning 11 April, the result of a three-year lake crossing feasibility study that cost CHF3.5 million.
The new link would extend from the current autoroute stretch on the right bank at Vengeron, relatively close to the lake, across to La Pointe-à-La-Bise, a reserve that the road would not touch, near Bellerive/Collonge. It would be entirely on Swiss territory. Canton governments do not have the right to enter into discussions with other governments on roadworks, but the proposed route approved by Geneva’s cantonal council could connect with Swiss and French highway as well as autoroute systems.
Two options are provided, one for a tunnel and the other for a bridge, but in both cases a tunnel under Choulex on the left bank, to preserve the Seymaz plain, is included. The bridge is currently considered the better option, from a safety and cost perspective. It’s too early, howevr, to exclude the option of a tunnel under the lake, say authorities. Further studies are needed that take into consideration new technologies that could be used for a tunnel.
City centre traffic would be reduced by 30,000 a day from current level
New bridge or tunnel to cross Lake Geneva would go from Vengeron, near Bellevue, on the left side of this photo, across to Bellerive, near Collonge (city centre to the right; photo taken from Chambesy)
Some 150,000 vehicles currently use the main routes through the city and across the Mont Blanc bridge. Cantonal projections show this figure rising to 170,000 by 2030.
If the new plan is adopted, traffic would fall to 120,000 vehicles a day through the city centre to cross the lake.
For people living near the two new autoroute junctions or further out and therefore using them, the lake crossing would be reduced in time by 35 percent, according to the report issued Monday.
The new link would extend from the current autoroute stretch on the right bank at Vengeron, relatively close to the lake, across to La Pointe-à-La-Bise, a reserve that the road would not touch, near Bellerive/Collonge.
It would be entirely on Swiss territory. Canton governments do not have the right to enter into discussions with other governments on roadworks, but the proposed route approved by Geneva’s cantonal council could connect with Swiss and French highway as well as autoroute systems.
The cost of the project is estimated at CHF3.1 billion for a bridge and CHF3.7b for a tunnel, without including various options to make improvements to city spaces and public transport as a result.
Bern’s current plan: reduce Geneva congestion by adding lanes to ring road autoroute
The arguments for and against a Lake Geneva crossing have raged in the canton for several years, but the biggest hurdle now could be the Swiss federal government, which has owned and is responsible for all national highways since 2008. Bern currently is considering plans to enlarge the ring road around the city in several places, from two to three lanes, to allow it to handle 115,000 vehicles a day. It can currently take a maximum load of 80,000.
Feasibility study report, in French, with annexes (including environmental impact)
California, from a Southwest airplane
Southwest Airlines have found cracks in the fuselage of a further three of its Boeing 737′s, during a round of emergency aircraft checks after Friday’s crash-landing due to cracks, in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
After a sudden drop in cabin pressure due to a crack in the plane’s fuselage, a Southwest Boeing 737 was forced to make a crash landing Friday 1 April, just minutes after taking off. None of the 118 passengers were harmed. Subsequent checks on Southwest planes prompted 600 flight cancellations over the weekend, with a further 60 jets due to be checked before Tuesday evening.
“We are taking every precaution we can to ensure that our operation is safe,” Mike Van de Ven, Southwest’s executive vice-president, confirmed in a statement last night after media reports drew attention to possible maintenance lapses.
This is not the first time Southwest has got into scrapes over plane-maintenance: in 2008 the company faced a $10.2 million penalty (later reduced to $7.5 million) from the Federal Aviation Administration for failing to carry out mandatory fuselage inspections on a number of its Boeing 737′s.
Links to other sites: BBC, Guardian, New York Times, Southwest Media, Houston Chronicle
Claims by former US presidential candidate Sarah Palin that she is on a purely private visit to Israel, where she stopped at Jerusalem’s Western Wall were undone somewhat by an analysis for CNN of her visit by a former consultant. Republican consultant Ford O’Connell, who worked on the McCain-Palin campaign in 2008, told the US television network that foreign policy is Palin’s greatest weakness but that “‘Foreign policy is moving up the ladder. If you want to be president, you have to have a good understanding of the global economy in the 21st century.’”
The visit to Israel follows a stop in India.
Palin has not officially announced her candidacy. She was criticized by some observers in the last presidential race because she had rarely set foot outside the US, although she has travelled abroad more since 2008. Her first overseas trip was in 2007, when she visited Alaska National Guard troops in Kuwait, who served under the US president rather than the governor. She stopped off in Germany to visit US troops there at the time.
Links to other sites: Anchorage Daily News (2008), The Week
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss was the best-performing of Lufthansa Group’s carriers in 2010, Air Transport World reports 21 March. The airline group 17 March published its annual report for 2010, showing Swiss in a much stronger position than in 2009.
It carried 14 million passengers, the highest number in its history and had a load capacity of 82.4, above the industry average: Europe averaged 79. in 2010 and North America 82.2, according to Iata (industry association) figures.
Financially, Swiss had profits of of €298 million, up from €93m in 2009. Revenues rose 25 percent to €3.46 billion. The figures exclude Edelweiss.
The company has increased traffic by about 50 percent a year for the past five years, since its partnership with Lufthansa, and it has hired 1,000 new staff.
The strong 2010 performance “is due largely to effective cost management, but also to strong demand and the upswing in intercontinental and freight business, as well as strong sales in the domestic Swiss market”, the company said in a message to shareholders.
The Swiss economy outperformed Europe in 2010.
Bernese Alps, the view from the Bern to Lausanne train
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The World Economic Forum, which organizes the annual mega-politics and business meeting in Davos, has given Switzerland another top prize in the rankings that have become a side business for the Geneva-based group. Switzerland ranks number one in the WEF’s world competitiveness report from September 2010, and now it gets the top honour for travel and tourism competitiveness, beating out Germany and France.
The travel top ranking considers the most attractive environment for developing the fast-growing tourism and travel sector. Infrastruture, travel and good use of natural resources are among the factors reviewed.
Get your 2011 auto sticker today or risk a fine
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Before heading out on an autoroute 1 February make sure to have the new 2011 Swiss autoroute sticker, or vignette displayed on your windshield. Switzerland does not have tolls, but instead charges an annual road tax for its autoroute/autobahn (motorway) system and the sticker is proof you have paid the tax.
Expect several checks at autoroute exits and entrances in the next few days. The fine for not having a sticker is CHF100, plus the CHF40 cost of the sticker.
The 2010 sticker was valid until 31 January, the latest date accepted for displaying the previous year’s sticker.
If you don’t yet have one, it costs CHF40, must be stuck to the windshield, on the left front side, to be valid. The tax must be paid for the entire calendar year and is not refundable. You need one if you have a car or motorcycle.
The stickers are sold in post offices, petrol stations, garages, offices of the Touring Club Switzerland (TCS) and cantonal driver’s and vehicle licensing offices. Customs offices sell them at the border. You can order them online if you are outside Switzerland.
The Swiss Foreign Affairs Department notes that international civil servants and embassy personnel are required to pay the tax if they use the autoroutes.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Gulf Air has announced it will add three flights a week from Geneva to Bahrain starting 29 March 2011. The flights will leave at 11:50 and arrive at 18:50 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from Geneva using a B737-700 with 16 business class flat bed and 78 economy class seats. Flights the same days from Bahrain will leave at 02:15 and arrive at 07:50.
Center Bar, Zurich Airport, best in the world, says Moodie's
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Zurich Airport’s Center Bar: they don’t come any better, says The Moodie Report, giving its top airport bar award to Zurich, which beat out Harry’s Bar at Cactus Garden, Singapore Changi Airport and the Saji Bumi, Satay Club at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
The Moodie Report is published for the global travel retail industry and Wednesday night 26 January in Manchester, England it handed out its first annual F&B (food and beverage) awards for airports, covering restaurants, bars, catering and more.
Here’s what the judges had to say about the Centre Bar: “an integral and stunning attraction to the airport itself, a bar in which panoramic views and stunning chic design made drinking here an absolute pleasure, enhancing the whole travel experience.”
The bar is one of several areas run by SSP at the airport, which opened a new sports bar in November, featuring large screens, a variety of consoles and specially-designed seats.
List of bars, cafes and restaurants at Zurich Airport, passenger section
Vevey's lake fork art, near the Alimentarium food museum, popular with tourists
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The number of foreign visitors was up 5.1 percent in November 2010 compared to a year earlier, figures published Friday 14 January show.
Foreign visitors accounted for more than half of the 1.8 million overnight stays in hotels, and stayed an additional 41,000 nights in November, despite the steep climb of the Swiss franc, which has appreciated 13 percent against the euro in the past 12 months.
Swiss business and finance leaders are meeting with government and central bank officials in Bern Friday to discuss the implications of the strong franc and strategies for dealing with it.
The Swiss economy has remained “robust”, as one analyst said at year-end, despite the franc’s strength. Exports were also up in November, the government reported 21 December.
Overnight hotel stays by foreigners rose 2.1 percent for the first 11 months of 2010. Asia and the Middle East brought the largest percentage increases: China (without Hong Kong) was up 40 percent, 8,500 nights, in November while India was up 14 percent, 1,900 nights. Gulf countries were up 12 percent, 2,000 nights.
But even euro and dollar nation visitors rose:
Germany, up 3.2 percent, 7,000 more nights
Russia, up 19 percent – 4,500
France, 3.9 percent – 3,100
USA, up 5.3 percent – 4,300 and North America as a whole up up 7.1 percent.
Italy showed the largest drop, down 5.8 percent, some 3,700 nights.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Residents of Taiwan and the N Marianna Islands in the Pacific will not in future need visas to visit Switzerland as tourists, the federal government announced 22 December. The change accompanies a change in the rules of the Schengen Area, of which Switzerland is a member.
The new rule goes into effect 11 January. It applies to residents who will be staying for less than three months and not doing “gainful work”, which has a precise and strict definition in Switzerland, Bern notes in its announcement. Volunteers and trainees who are doing work that might otherwise be considered labour that requires pay are considered to be gainfully employed in Switzerland, for example, and they are subject to work visa laws, in order to prevent abuse of foreigners by employers who do not pay them.
Christmas holiday traffic is upon us! Weather forecast, resort updates, traffic planning alerts
Skier Lara Gut signs with new sports agency
Photos by Keepps on flickr, Nyon 17 December 2010 set
Nyon, early Friday morning 17 December (photo, Keepps on flickr)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – School ends for the Christmas break in neighbouring France Friday 17 December and in some German states, while Vaud and Geneva finish at the end of the school day Thursday 23 December (complete list of Swiss school vacation dates) – note corrected dates. The mountains have snow; the snow cover is not deep, but more is promised. Expect traffic on the roads! The women’s World Cup ski season will see some chilly racing this weekend in neighbouring France’s Val d’Isère resort, with temperatures at -10C Friday morning and -14 at nearby Tignes. The snow is in good condition, with 103cm at the top and 40 at 1,850 metres.
Swiss skier Lara Gut announced Friday noon that she has signed a contract with a new Swiss agency, Pool Position, to help develop her reputation nationally and internationally. “This close collaboration, coordinated by my private team, will ensure how my reputation is built, both as an athlete and a private individual.”
Pool Position is a recently developped partnership, based in Zurich, between Ringier, Switzerland’s largest media company, and the German firm Kick-Media AG. The company advises clients in several fields: film, TV, theatre, fashion, music, sports and show business.
Gut was suspended for two races at the end of December for repeatedly ignoring warnings about wearing team clothing and for publicly criticizing the Swiss women’s team coach. She performed well during pre-race runs Thursday, coming in 8th overall and first for the Swiss. She is making her comeback this season after a hip injury followed by surgery last season. Val d’Isère is where Gut charmed the sports world in February, winning two World Cup silver medals at only age 17.
Weather forecast
Snow that began falling 16 December is expected to end by noon Friday in most areas, continuing a bit longer in the Jura and Swiss Alps. Saturday: changeable weather, but cold, ranging from -8C to a high of -1C on the plain and -16C to -7C in mountain resorts. Sunday: warmer, highs around 0C, with snow starting again, but the snowline gradually rising to 500-800 metres. GenevaLunch weather page
Winter resort news
Not everyone travelling will have legal documents to enter their destination country
12 US airports testing departure data gathering: just one part of larger, changing travel controls picture
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Airport security checks and pre-departure passport controls are the daily bread of international travellers, with terrorism most often touted as the reason. The rise in “irregular” migrants plays a key role in how governments handle travellers, however, the 2010 report from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) shows. Twelve airports in the US are now gathering information on departing passengers as well as arriving ones, the report notes, in a pilot project that is part of one of the world’s “most ambitious traveller inspection” operations, the US-Visit (United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology) system.
The report, published 26 November, argues that stopping irrregular migration, or people on the move who are not within the law, should be a priority for policy makers. It takes pains to point out that this is for the good of the migrants, as well as destination governments and their citizens.
A key reason for irregular migration is the mismatch between labour supply and demand, “with more people moving to find work than will be facilitated by labour mobility agreements”, say the report’s authors. Some migrants enter a country legally, but then work illegally. Human trafficking and smuggling initially leave most of the victims in irregular situations. Some irregular migrants choose to move this way, but others find themselves in an irregular situation due to government bureaucracy or other problems they did not choose.
Halting irregular migration is necessary, the report argues, because it hurts the migrants themselves in a number of ways, undermines countries’ laws, and reduces public faith in immigration laws. Many irregular migrants work for unscrupulous employers because they fear going to authorities. Smuggling requires corrupt officials. The path taken is often dangerous, as migrant workers heading north from South and Central America through Mexico have shown in recent months.
85% or more of migrants are legally on the move
The report from the IOM nevertheless underscores the importance of keeping the problem of irregular migration in perspective:
“Estimates, while not exact (as will be discussed below), suggest that only some 10–15 per cent of today’s 214 million international migrants are in an irregular situation. Most of these migrants enter legally but overstay the authorized stay. Moreover, as South–South migration is as significant as South–North migration, it is important not to fuel fear and negative perceptions of the North being overrun by poor migrants from the South, while of course not ignoring the vexing incidence of irregular migration today.”
Governments’ baskets of solutions to detect irregular migrants affect all travellers
Today’s travellers often cross borders in a non-literal sense well before they reach a physical border. “The entire notion of expanding borders to a place of first contact—whether through physical or electronic means—is a reality of today’s mobile and information and communication technology-intensive world,” the report notes. “States are increasingly seeking to enforce their domestic immigration laws beyond their own borders, thus managing enforcement as early as possible and prior to arrival at the border.” Government officials have more time to examine individuals and their documents if they are further away. “Once travellers reach the border, inspection officers are pressed to make quick decisions so as not to unduly inconvenience other travellers.”
Governments are stepping up their pre-border and border arrival controls, but increasingly, they may be adding departure controls, if the US pilot project proves successful.
