JEDDAH, 20 March 2005 — Switzerland aims to attract more families from Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Gulf region in the upcoming vacation season.
“We are geared to welcome more Saudi and GCC families this summer,” Federico Sommaruga, leader of a Swiss Tourism delegation and director of Switzerland Tourism for the GCC, India and Russia, told a press conference alongside a road show held at Sheraton Villas here yesterday.
The team included representatives from 20 of Switzerland’s major destinations, hotels and spas, besides the railway and Swiss International Airlines.
During the road show, which was part of their GCC tour, the visitors met with alliance partners and travel and tour operators in a bid to boost arrivals from the region. About 70,000 GCC visitors, 50 percent of them from Saudi Arabia, travel to Geneva as their preferred base in Switzerland.
“We’re seeing a new trend among the visitors to tour farther areas like Crans Montana, Lucerne, Lausanne and St Mortiz, and we expect this trend to increase in 2005,” Sommaruga said.
“The GCC, which accounted for 250,000 overnights last year, ranks among the top countries from where tourists come. The daily spending of GCC residents is 450 Swiss franks per person, which is the highest of all,” he said.
The Kingdom and the rest of the GCC, which accounts for 1.4 percent of all foreign visitors to Switzerland, ranks 12th worldwide, after Europe, the US and Japan. The high exchange rate has restricted the increase in GCC tourist numbers during the past three years, but Swiss Tourism expects a resumption of double-digit growth for 2005.
About 290,000 Saudi residents visited Switzerland in 2002, about 30 percent more than in 2001. The big jump in arrivals from the Kingdom was attributed to the visit of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd in 2002.
“The arrivals from this part of the world dropped in the following years. However 27,500 tourists are expected to visit us in 2005,” Sommaruga said.
Swiss Tourism offers a wide range of packages that are available through the travel trade, focusing on areas of interest to the Kingdom’s residents, especially family attractions, wellness, mountains, education and health care. It has introduced art and architecture as additional attractions. “In addition, we’ve a full schedule of festivals every summer covering areas like jazz and films and teddy bears,” he said.
Swiss Consul General Adrien Evequoz said Saudi nationals were issued with visas within 24 hours. “Those with Schengen visa need not have a Swiss visa,” he said.
