Aussies & Kiwis want their share of Switzerland

Is it the ski? The culture? The incomparable mountainous scenery? Or perhaps it’s all three that’s delivering more Aussies and Kiwis to Switzerland every year.

Switzerland Tourism, which recently wrapped up its bi-annual Australian roadshow, revealed Australian and New Zealand numbers to the European country go from strength to strength and are now jointly the sixth largest market in terms of visitor growth.

Last year, AU and NZ delivered an all-time record of 325,000 overnight visitors, a 3.5 percent increase on 2014.

The tourism bureau is forecasting growth numbers for 2016 to sit between four and five percent, which has been the average over the past three years.

The Switzerland team at this year’s Australian roadshows.

Some 300 Travel Agents across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane attended the Switzerland Travel Experience roadshow this year, during which they received updates on various regions, products and ongoing developments.

In attendance were representatives from Zurich, Basel, Lucerne, Mount Titlis, Schilthorn Cableway, Jungfrau Region, Jungfrau Railways, Lake Geneva Region, Gstaad, Swiss Travel System and Swiss International Air Lines.

Apart from product updates and news, three lucky agents from each city also won some generous prizes including a Swiss goody bag for third place, a Victorinox watch or cheese hamper for second place and a holiday for two to Switzerland flying SWISS International Air Lines plus six night’s accommodation and an 8-day 1^st class Swiss Travel Pass.

Image: Switzerland Tourism

In Sydney, Oliver Begeng of Flight Centre won the grand holiday prize, while Anna Riedel of Egencia came in second and Linda Whitaker of Globus came in third.

In Brisbane, Alexandra Linde from Infinity Holidays took home the holiday, while Lou Plagens from Affordable Travel and Marie Lum from Seek Travel Pty won the second and third prizes respectively.

Finally, in Melbourne, Daniel Price of Travel Managers came first, while Lisa King, also from Travel Managers and Matthew Inman from Maxim’s Travel came in second and third.

Have you travelled to Switzerland?