Federer stars in campaign to woo Chinese tourists

Swiss tennis star Roger Federer, who retired from professional tennis last year, is the official ambassador for Switzerland Tourism. © Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott

Switzerland Tourism has turned to retired tennis champion Roger Federer to bring Chinese tourists back to Switzerland after more than two years of pandemic travel restrictions.

Even before his retirement from tennis, Roger Federer was starring alongside names like Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway to help revive tourism in his home country after Covid-19 put a damper on travel. Now the official ambassador for Switzerland Tourism is helping target the Chinese market.

According to a Switzerland Tourism marketing planExternal link seen by NZZ Magazin, Federer plays a key role in a new year-long campaign to bring Chinese tourists back to the Alpine nation. With the tennis star’s help, Chinese tourists are expected to generate around 800,000 overnight hotel stays in Switzerland this year. This is just under half of what it was in 2019, before the pandemic. The aim is that by 2025, this reaches 1.7 million overnight stays.

Chinese tourists not only fill hotel rooms, but they are also big spenders. They spend around CHF380 (USD400) per day, with much of this on souvenirs. This makes them the second most generous tourist group in Switzerland after visitors from the Middle East. As a comparison, when the Swiss go on holiday, they spend around CHF160 per day.

According to the NZZ, Chinese tourists also tend to come all year round, not just in high seasons. They also tend to stay on the outskirts rather than city centres, which brings benefits to towns beyond the typical tourist hotspots.

The Lake Lucerne region and the Bernese mountains are particularly popular with Chinese tourists. “For us, China is the second most important foreign market after the US. We are therefore pleased that progress is now being made,” Marcel Perren, Lucerne Tourism Director, told the NZZ.

While many welcome the influx of tourists, some people have reservations about a tourism strategy focused on attracting high volumes of tourists from overseas. Chinese tourists often come in large buses that can also put pressure on local infrastructure.

In a response to NZZ, Switzerland Tourism wrote that Chinese guests will continue to play a central role. However, the focus is on premium guests as well as individual tourists with an affinity for the outdoors and those interested in culture.