Peak Perfection

Come one - but not all. Switzerland’s approach to tourism is sustainable. Ritu Sharma tells us about its evolving allure for Indian travellers.

- Tsunami Costabir

Over her countless trips to the country, Ritu Sharma, Deputy Director at Switzerland Tourism, says that your first impression of the place is always how beautiful it is. “Everything works efficiently, every place is clean and picture-perfect.” But as a tourist, it could annoy you that when you come out of the airport, you can’t just hop into a taxi. Instead, you take a 10-minute train ride to the city centre and wheel your bags to your nearest hotel – or take the tram.

For an Indian, given how normalised it is to move around in private vehicles as a tourist, it might take a minute to get used to the idea of their immaculate public transportation system. “If a train is scheduled for 11:03, it will leave at 11:03.” And the last mile connectivity is such that you only have to walk for five to seven minutes to go anywhere. “But of course when the Swiss say 10 minutes, it’s more like half an hour for us Indians!” jokes Sharma.

In For The Long-Haul

For many travellers, their ideal holiday is short. They hop from one place to another to see all the popular destinations, take pictures and then do some shopping. A Swiss holiday should ideally look nothing like that. “We don’t want tourists to fly in, go to Mount Titlis and fly out.” Long-haul stays and sustainable tourism are what they’re looking at. “What we want is a give and take between two cultures.”

In Europe, people often talk about how places like Venice or Barcelona have become impossible to live for the locals. And the Swiss did not take that message lightly. When you fly in from India, it takes about eight to 10 hours and once you land, if you only go hopping from place A to place B, it can't be good for the environment. Hence, Switzerland wants travellers to stay for at least a week or 10 days and do more than just the highlights.

The Changing Tourist