The Grand Tour of Switzerland, launched in spring 2015, turned out to be a grand success, especially in the GCC. About 100,000 GCC guests traveled independently through Switzerland and on the 1,600 km long route. The spectacular route takes you through four linguistic regions, over five Alpine passes, to 11 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, two Biosphere Reserves and along 22 lakes. In short, an experience to the country's most scenic and cultural highlights, strung together like pearls on a necklace. On the Grand Tour of Switzerland, a stop at the most famous destinations of Switzerland is a must: Geneva, Lausanne, Montreux, Gstaad, Interlaken, Bern, Lucerne, Zurich, Laax, St. Moritz, the Ticino/Lugano, Zermatt and Crans Montana with its thrilling activities and its lush green nature. And of course, a stay in one of the many luxurious hotels along the route will top up any expectations. Nevertheless, it is not necessary to drive in order to discover the country's gems: the Grand Train Tour of Switzerland links the country's finest panoramic routes via many of its most attractive cities and resorts. The Grand Train Tour can be started from any point, at any time of the year with no prescribed travel direction or duration. And best of all, the entire tour can be experienced with a single all-in-one ticket — the Swiss Travel Pass. Switzerland's beauty and variety makes it very easy for our guests to fall in love over and over again with this beautiful place. The newly created hashtag #INLOVEWITHSWITZERLAND is here for them to share their own personal love story with Switzerland via Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. To ensure high standards of pleasure for tourists, Switzerland Tourism is operating its online website www.MySwitzerland.com with more than 2,400 pages of Arabic content for information and easy reservations. Furthermore, ST communicates with the guests via their Arabic Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels Facebook.com/myswitzerlandar and MySwitzerland.com/twitter. Intagram.com/myswitzerlandar The hashtag #InLovewithSwitzerland is already widely used, in the GCC as well. A delegation of Switzerland Tourism and representatives of over 40 tourism destinations, companies and famous Swiss hotels are travelling through the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states in February, visiting Jeddah, Dammam, Riyadh, Qassim, Bahrain, Doha, Muscat, Kuwait, Dubai, Al Ain, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. During the road show ‘Switzerland Travel Experience', organized and hosted by Switzerland Tourism, the delegates meet up with around 1,300 travel representatives and tourism agencies from the GCC and are giving insights into the new Switzerland experience: The Grand Tour of Switzerland. The workshops of the road show discuss ways of collaboration that help to increase the number of GCC tourists to Switzerland. To enable these prospects, the tourism agencies will be provided with comprehensive information and details on the tours to Switzerland. Numerous tourist attractions will be promoted as well as services offered in the different regions and along the Grand Tour of Switzerland. Publishing statistics on GCC tourists visiting Switzerland, Switzerland Tourism announced that Saudi Arabia holds the first position, followed by the United Arab Emirates. Overall, 316,669 tourists from GCC states with 887,032 overnights have visited Switzerland during Jan-Nov 2015, resulting in an increase of 23,4% visitors versus 2014. Spending CHF430 per day on average, the GCC visitors are first in terms of daily tourist expenditure worldwide. The persistent growth of the number of tourists coming from the GCC to Switzerland raised the responsibility of Switzerland Tourism (ST) towards the Gulf tourism market. It reflects on the enhancement of its activities, within the states of GCC, via its regional office in Dubai, which has been carrying out its activities since 2003. The Switzerland Tourism claim ‘get natural' stays with all its originality, innovation and other modern Swiss components. The experiences of both cities and mountains will be covered through the chapters of leisure and business. ST works closely with all tourism partners and those who are significantly related to the sector of tourism. In order to increase the level of demand, Switzerland Tourism develops and markets high quality offers dedicated to meeting all requirements. Marketing in key markets is being enhanced, and markets with high strategic growth opportunities are being invested and exploited, such as the GCC markets. When travelling in Switzerland, apart from the outstanding hotel offer, there are many serviced hotel apartments, offering a private environment whilst enjoying hotel amenities of outstanding comfort. They are also an excellent opportunity for young honeymooners, who would like to enjoy a romantic and cosy atmosphere, which is hardly to find elsewhere in the world. Tourists looking for exercising fun and hiking will find specific paths to use their hobbies. During the year, world-famous annual events and festivals take place, such as the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Art Basel, the Geneva Festival, the White Turf St. Moritz or the European Golf Open in Crans Montana. Switzerland is one of the most prominent tourist destinations for medical treatment and wellbeing; the most prominent places are: St. Moritz, Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne, Lugano and Bad Ragaz, all covering a range of excellent hotels. Since four years, Switzerland has a new marketing cooperative called ‘Swiss Health', promoting university hospitals and private clinics. Since the eighties, the Swiss educational sector has witnessed a remarkable development. International students are provided with learning opportunities with everything they require and demand for to take part in the international competition, including summer camps in English. There are many boarding schools, hotel and tourism management colleges especially in the Lake Geneva region. Switzerland Tourism (ST) was founded in 1917. Taking into consideration that tourism is the main activity that requires developing and executing effective marketing plans while promoting Switzerland to the International tourism and business markets, the company is being managed in accordance with service standards focus on business requirements and clients' satisfaction. The company includes a homogenous group of employees: representatives from the tourism sector, business and political circles. Worldwide, ST employs about 230 staff in 26 countries. Switzerland Tourism together with Swiss Federal Railways has established the Switzerland Travel Center (STC) This company does hotel bookings (also last minute), car rental and can provide travel by train, bus and boat, all combined in one ticket. The Switzerland Tourism office in Dubai, which is responsible for the GCC, started its activities in 2003 and works closely with many organizations and companies, e.g. Swiss International Airlines, Swiss Embassies and Consulates and Business Councils. It invites the representatives and agents of travel and tourism agencies as well as representatives of the leading Arab and foreign media every year to visit Switzerland in different times and seasons to visit the most prestigious Swiss tourist landmarks.
