A Switzerland Tourism delegation and representatives of over 40 tourist destinations, companies and hotels traveled through the GCC states recently, visiting Jeddah, Dammam, Riyadh, Qassim, Taif, Hofuf, Bahrain, Doha, Muscat, Kuwait, Dubai, Al Ain and Abu Dhabi.

During the GCC 2014 road show — Switzerland Travel Experience — organized and hosted by Switzerland Tourism GCC, the delegates met up with travel representatives and tourism agencies from the region.

Giving insights into the new Switzerland experience — the Grand Tour of Switzerland — workshops were held to discuss ways of collaboration to help increase the number of GCC tourists to Switzerland.

Switzerland Tourism states that Saudi Arabia holds the unbeaten first position, followed by the UAE in terms of the number of GCC tourists visiting Switzerland between January and November 2014. Overall, Switzerland had 253,919 of GCC tourists with 735,318 overnights during the 11-month period, resulting in an increase of 23.4 percent as against 2013, spending CHF 500 per day on average. In this ranking the GCC tourists are first in terms of daily tourist expenditure worldwide.

The main partners of Switzerland Tourism are Geneva & Lake Geneva region, Gstaad, Interlaken, Jungfrau Region, Bern, Lucerne, Zurich, St. Moritz, Ticino, Zermatt/Matterhorn Region, Swiss Travel Systems, Swiss Travel Center, Bucherer, Swiss Health and Swiss International Airlines.

When traveling in Switzerland, in addition to hotels, there are many serviced hotel apartments, offering a private environment with hotel amenities.

Switzerland is one of the most prominent tourist destinations for medical treatment and well-being that include St. Moritz, Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne, Lugano and Bad Ragaz.

Since the eighties, the Swiss educational sector has witnessed a remarkable development. International students are provided with learning opportunities. There are many boarding schools, hotel and tourism management colleges, especially in the Lake Geneva region.