You are not dreaming. To encourage travelers to come to Switzerland this fall, the alpine country’s tourism promotion organization is launching a campaign around unusual activities that focus on nature and well-being. On the menu: boat sauna and yoga in the mountains with goats. The advertising campaign has just been launched in Switzerland and soon in neighboring countries Germany, Austria, Italy and France, a spokesman for Switzerland Tourism told AFP on Thursday. It aims to support the tourism industry in autumn, a low season that accounted for only 17% of hotel nights in 2019, at the end of the summer season, during which the sector saw a clear upswing but did not return to its pre-pandemic levels. .
The campaign highlights the spa and wellness offer in nature, including a sauna boat that sails on Lake Lucerne near Lucerne and a boat between a boat and a bath that moves on Lake Brienz near Interlaken, which allows you. jump into the icy water before returning to the ships to find water at 38 degrees. It also highlights forest baths, yoga and walks with goats in the canton of Graubünden, or wine therapy on the terraces of Laveau, whose vines are draped in orange-red colors above Lake Geneva, with a hot bath with a glass of chasselas on the menu. massage and skin peeling with grape paste.
Attract the attention of international customers
The autumn season in Switzerland is dominated by local customers looking for hiking ideas. With travel restrictions during the pandemic, their weight increased further, and Swiss customers generated 4.1 million hotel nights in autumn 2021, 29% more than in 2019. But Switzerland Tourism, the tourism promotion agency in Switzerland, intends to step up its advertising campaign abroad. to boost the sector by capitalizing on the desire to travel in an attempt to increase foreign tourist stays before the summer season, the winter during which European tourists flock to the slopes.
While major tourist destinations such as France and Spain have seen a significant return in foreign tourists over the summer, Switzerland has seen an upswing in the summer but has not returned to its pre-pandemic levels. In mid-August, Swiss Tourism gave a preliminary assessment of the summer season, estimating that there was still a long way to go before returning to 2019 figures. According to the preliminary data of the Federal Statistical Service, hotel nights were created by foreign citizens. In July, tourists were still 15% below their 2019 levels. In the first half of the year, they were still almost a third lower than their pre-epidemic level.
Source: Le Figaro
