Lucerne sells itself as an ideal film location

For some people, Lucerne epitomises Switzerland. Maybe that’s because they’ve seen it so many times on TV. It's one of the few Swiss cities to offer a complete film and TV production service. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)

Tourist bosses in Lucerne know that a movie or TV show that portrays a country in a positive light can be more effective for branding than an advertising campaign.

Take, for instance, films made in New Zealand and Thailand. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is thought to be largely responsible for the huge increase in tourism in New Zealand following the release of the film, and the James Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) put Phuket on the tourism map.

Films featuring Lucerne and the Swiss Alps, including more than 200 Bollywood films over the past two decades, have attracted countless tourists to Switzerland from Asian countries in particular. 

Tourism offices around the country continue to offer limited film production help, but efforts to set up a national film location centre in Zurich have failed.