With Spring holidays in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf just around the corner (March 23 to April 1), followed shortly by summer vacation, Switzerland has unveiled this year a new set of packages to further attract Saudi tourists as well as others in the Gulf Cooperation Council region. The Swiss government, taking notice of the immense potential of the region, has allocated CHF1.1 million (SR4.5 million) for tourism promotion in the GCC region. For this year,
the government forecast that tourists from the GCC would grow by 5 per cent, bringing the visitor overnights to nearly 450,000 mark. Branding year 2012 as the "Year of Water", Switzerland Tourism will promote the theme of water in all forms, such as lakes, rivers, glaciers, activities on water; hotels on water, and health & beauty (water as a source) - with all its amenities. According to a Saudi Gazette report by Querubin J Minas, in a recent Gulf tour by a delegation of the Switzerland Tourism (ST) and some representatives of various sectors of tourism in Switzerland, they noted that in 2011 alone, 7 percent or 126,360 tourists from the Gulf were Saudis. Citing recent statistics, Jorg Peter Krebs, Director for India, Middle East and Africa at Switzerland Tourism, said the citizens of GCC countries are on top of the list of biggest tourist spenders, dishing out 530 Swiss francs (SR2,172.61) a day, placing the region among the top 5 strategic growth markets of Switzerland. This year, Switzerland Tourism unveiled a bunch of marketing packages to further increase the number of tourists from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, among them, the quicker processing of travel requirements aside from discounted prices on travel tickets and hotel rates.
Click here to see the original article>the government forecast that tourists from the GCC would grow by 5 per cent, bringing the visitor overnights to nearly 450,000 mark. Branding year 2012 as the "Year of Water", Switzerland Tourism will promote the theme of water in all forms, such as lakes, rivers, glaciers, activities on water; hotels on water, and health & beauty (water as a source) - with all its amenities. According to a Saudi Gazette report by Querubin J Minas, in a recent Gulf tour by a delegation of the Switzerland Tourism (ST) and some representatives of various sectors of tourism in Switzerland, they noted that in 2011 alone, 7 percent or 126,360 tourists from the Gulf were Saudis. Citing recent statistics, Jorg Peter Krebs, Director for India, Middle East and Africa at Switzerland Tourism, said the citizens of GCC countries are on top of the list of biggest tourist spenders, dishing out 530 Swiss francs (SR2,172.61) a day, placing the region among the top 5 strategic growth markets of Switzerland. This year, Switzerland Tourism unveiled a bunch of marketing packages to further increase the number of tourists from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, among them, the quicker processing of travel requirements aside from discounted prices on travel tickets and hotel rates.