Switzerland witnesses 27 pct growth in tourists from India during first half of 2015

MUMBAI: Switzerland has seen 26.7 pct growth in Indian tourists travelling to the country during the first half of 2015. After witnessing a stagnant growth in tourist arrivals from India over the last three years, Switzerland has seen a huge surge in growth of Indian tourists, with June witnessing almost over 40% growth over the same period last year.

Switzerland welcomed 3,47,056 Indian tourists during the period January to June 2015. It has seen tourist arrivals from India grow from 4,74,882 in 2012 to 4,80,000 in 2014; with a slight dip in 2013 at 4,67,967 tourists.

In a bid to attract more Indian tourists, Switzerland Tourism is promoting winter tourism through a new campaign. This is the first time that the Switzerland Tourism is promoting winter as a season for Indians to visit the country. Usually, Indians visit Switzerland during the summer months– May to June.

“As Indians are getting more and more adventurous and are looking for new experiences, we think they are now ready for a winter holiday,” said Claudio Zemp, director – India, Switzerland Tourism. Zemp expects around 15-20% increase in hotel overnights from Indian travellers, on the back of the new campaign. “We expect most of this growth to come from main metro cities as this product is for the more evolved tourist.”

India is one of the top ten source markets for overnight tourist stays in Swiss hotels.

Early this year, Switzerland Tourism had launched the ‘Grand Tour of Switzerland’ – a 1,600 km road trip combining Switzerland’s touristic and nature highlights in one journey.

“With India demonstrating strong economic growth, the outbound travel and tourism market is set to prosper,” said Ritu Sharma, deputy director, Switzerland Tourism India.