New strategies target Asia-Pacific as traditional markets falter, writes Raini Hamdi
The mighty Pilatus and Lake Lucerne, Switzerland (photo by Michael Faes)
Switzerland Tourism, which opened a South-east Asia office in Singapore in June, is sealing partnerships with tour operators in the region to develop new itineraries targeting specific market segments.
In Singapore, for instance, it is working with STA to attract youth travel. Special itineraries for 18- to 25-year-olds are being sewn up, aimed at debunking the perception that the destination is out of reach for youths due to high costs.
Said Urs Eberhard, Switzerland Tourism’s executive vice president-markets & meetings: “They (youths) don’t know that Switzerland can be modestly-priced. You can travel by train, stay at youth hostels, have an outdoor adventure. They don’t know that there’s incredible nightlife and lots of fun in Zurich, Lausanne, Basel – look at the Zurich Street Parade (on August 11), where nearly a million people turned up to dance, to club, to party.”
Apart from youths, the NTO is targeting Asian MICE groups, multi-generation family travel, seniors, premium travellers, culture lovers, train travellers and romantic/honeymoon clients.
Its tactical strategy of going after specific market segments with new itineraries arises from the need to spread out Asian arrivals beyond the usual hotspots and make them stay longer, at a time when Switzerland is seeing massive drops from its traditional markets.
The European debt crisis wiped out some CHF470 million (US$482 million) in income from traditional markets in the last five years. New visitors from markets like China, India, South-east Asia, South Korea, Australia, Russia and Eastern Europe brought in over CHF300 million during the period. Alas, tourists only visited must-see icons like Luzern and Interlaken, said Eberhard.
“The issue is, the new markets go to only 10 to 20 per cent of the destinations in the country, so the growth is concentrated on only a few hotspots, while the loss from the traditional markets are spread throughout, since these markets have been coming to Switzerland for the last 100-150 years and visit all places throughout the year.
“Therefore, our strategy, as a national tourist office, is really to diversify and spread the growth. We need to encourage second-time travellers from the new markets, or those who seek a deeper or mono-European tour, to go to new routes. This is why we’re really trying to give new itineraries and ideas to tour operators and ground operators, so they feature both the hotspots and creative themes. By doing this, we hope people will also spend more than two or three nights in Switzerland.
“We are also working with tour operators to create new ideas, like the best of Switzerland, discover Switzerland as a mono-destination, or, instead of eight European countries, why not just three nights in Italy, Switzerland and France, and explore them deeper.”
Switzerland Tourism will jointly market the new itineraries to travel agencies and consumers.
“Our approach is an integrated one, working with tour operators to create new itineraries, working with agencies so that they are educated about these itineraries and are able to sell them well, doing joint marketing activities to educate the consumers that there is more to the country than they think,” said Eberhard.
South-east Asia is Switzerland’s fourth booming market after China, India and Russia. Singapore is its largest South-east Asian market, accounting for some 35 per cent of the South-east Asia total arrivals, followed by Thailand (30 per cent). However, growth is fastest from Indonesia, up 46 per cent last year, Eberhard said.
“For leisure travel, Asia is growing still – and on an extremely successful 2011. In the first six months, China grew 24 per cent, South-east Asia 15 per cent, Australia almost 10 per cent, India, Japan, South Korea 10 per cent each,” said Eberhard.
