Switzerland celebrates record-breaking growth of tourist arrivals from Russia

2010 was deemed the most successful year in terms of welcoming Russian tourists – said the head Switzerland Tourism Moscow Office Mr. Jonas Ettlin during the meeting with the press.

“The number of Russian overnights in Switzerland overtopped the 2009 figures and reached 467884” – said Mr. Ettlin to Interfax Tourism – “thereby a slight decline in 2009 (-0.5%) was followed by continuous growth, that teethed in 2008”. 60% of all overnight fell on winter skiing season, and 40% of travelers preferred to spend their Swiss holidays in Summer by the lakes, rivers and mountains.

Most of the tourists were individuals at the age of 30+. Mostly they chose Switzerland as their only destination, spent there more than a week and prefer 3 to 5 star accommodation.

Mr. Ettlin gives second place for family travelers that come to the country for about a week and stay at 4-5 star hotels. Third place goes to conferences attendees that usually come for 3-4 days in groups of 5 to 300 people.

The guests from Russia on average spend not less than CHF250 (around €190) a day.