Swiss Tourism Conducts Five City Roadshow In India

Announces Plans To Start Switzerland Specialist Programme For TAs

ET&T Staff - Mumbai

Switzerland Tourism (ST) recently conducted a five city roadshow across India in places such as Ahmedabad, Chennai, New Delhi, Mumbai and Pune called the Switzerland Travel Experience’(STE). STE provided a glimpse of ST’s plans and new products in India. They also announced the plans to start special programmes for travel agents. Switzerland Tourism announced that they are planning to start the Switzerland specialist programme for travel agents in India. This programme will enable travel agents to excel and sell Switzerland as one of the leading destinations in the world. They have also devised Switzerland Network Programme, which includes internet based learning aids, local training sessions in India and onsite education trips in Switzerland. This will help enhance the travel agents’ sales efforts by customer referrals, sales support and an expert’s command on the product.

Speaking at the event, inaugurated by the new Swiss Consul general, Josef Eisele, organised in partnership with Swiss International Air Lines, Davos, Glacier Express, GoldenPass Line, Jungfrau Railways, Interlaken Tourism, Schilthorn Cableways, Mystery Park, Zurich Airport/ Zurich Tourism, Geneva Tourism, Swiss Travel System, Movenpick Hotel and Casino Geneva, Mt Pilatus Railways, Titlis Rotair, Lake Lucerne Region, Burgenstock Hotels and Resort, the Regi Wittwer, country manager-India, Switzerland Tourism, said, “India is an important market for Switzerland. Recent trends have revealed that not only is Switzerland viewed as a top leisure destination but also a value for money destination with the incentive segment. In 2004, there have been approximately 97,400 arrivals to Switzerland from India and there have been approximately 2,40,000 overnights.”

She further added, “Switzerland Tourism has been working closely with Bollywood for a long time now and in fact has even published a guide with detailed information about Switzerland to facilitate Bollywood producers. Familiarisation tours to Switzerland have also been organised with a view to help producers from India explore new locales.”

Swiss partners of Switzerland Tourism have also also made constant endeavour to introduce innovative schemes to attract tourists from India. The popular resort of Interlaken has introduced an Indian dinner cruise and seeing its overwhelming success they are doubling the seating capacity to cope with the large influx of tourists from India. Zurich Airport has recently opened up a new airside centre with lounges complete with recreational facilities and shopping centers. Glacier Express is celebrating its 75th anniversary with exciting offers for tourists. Four new trains with five panoramic cars and a dining car are on the anvil. Jungfrau Railways has introduced a new glacier trek, where you can walk on a five metre trail on the glacier securely fastened to a rope. In Davos tourists can bake their own bread, brew their own beer and also make their own cheese and chocolate. STE is one of the many events aimed at educating the travel trade through presentations and interactive workshops. This event serves as an effective platform to talk about the latest Swiss tourism products and also to renew old contacts with the travel trade and media. In India, Switzerland Tourism has been organising this event annually for the past four years.