Americans are increasingly numerous to go on holiday to Switzerland, to the great delight of the tourism industry. The very lucrative American market is in fact one of the priorities of Switzerland Tourism, which has been trying for years to attract them to our country.
Switzerland has never welcomed as many American visitors as in 2023. The United States has even become the second largest source of foreign tourists after Germany. This plebiscite is no coincidence. For several years, Switzerland Tourism has been conducting a seduction operation to attract American tourists to our country.
Thanks to the additional funds from the Confederation to revive tourism after the pandemic, the Swiss promotional organization was able to afford a Hollywood cast for its advertisements in which Anne Hathaway, Robert de Niro and Trevor Noah are featured alongside Roger Federer.
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>> Read also: Roger Federer and Anne Hathaway team up to sell the beauty of Switzerland and Roger Federer and comedian Trevor Noah promote Swiss trains
Holidaymakers from the USA are coveted by the tourism sector, because the return on investment is particularly attractive. An American tourist spends an average of 280 francs per day in Switzerland. This is more than double the expenditure of a German tourist. They also generally stay for several days in 4 or 5-star hotels. In 2023, they generated a record of more than 3 million overnight stays.
>> Read also: Hotel overnight stays at record level last year in Switzerland
A successful operation
The Swiss Tourism operation seems to have borne fruit. Even Will Smith has fallen under the spell of our country. A video of the actor strolling at dawn in a deserted Zurich quickly went viral on social networks.
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“Everyone in the United States says that Switzerland is beautiful. Everyone talks about it. We had to visit it once,” says Bobby, a tourist from Texas, on the 7:30 p.m. news on RTS. “We are surprised to see how clean everything is and without huge billboards like we have everywhere in Texas,” adds Charleen, also from Texas.
The two Texans were part of a group of about sixty American tourists who came to visit Glacier 3000, a godsend for the resort which, faced with competition from the Matterhorn, was struggling to capture the American market. “We had small groups, individual clients, but this year, it’s the first time that we have had large groups coming from May to October to Glacier 3000,” explains its director Bernhard Tschannen.
“Off the beaten track”
American tourists prefer to sleep in cities such as Zurich, Lucerne, Geneva or in the Zermatt region and prefer other destinations, such as Glacier 3000, for excursions. However, Switzerland has made a place for itself on the European map for American vacations, alongside Italy, France and the United Kingdom, which are still their favorite destinations.
>> Read also: Switzerland Tourism wants to combat overtourism by distributing flows across the territory
That’s exactly what convinced Lee, a tourist from South Carolina, to visit Switzerland. “I wanted to come here because Switzerland is a little bit off the beaten path for Europe,” she says during her visit to Chillon Castle, where Americans are the most numerous foreign tourists.
“We have seen a trend of growth in recent years,” says Yannick Klein, the château’s marketing director. “American economic growth and the country’s dynamism must also reflect this trend.” The figures for the first half of 2024 confirm this: the increase is not about to run out of steam.
>> See also the report from 7:30 p.m. at Glacier 3000 and at Chillon Castle:
Switzerland has made a place for itself on the map of American vacationers. Example in Les Diablerets / 7:30 p.m. / 2 min. / yesterday at 7:30 p.m.
TV topic: Clémence Vonlanthen
Web adaptation: Emilie Délétroz
