Sweden has had enough of being confused with Switzerland
Is a campaign really necessary? Who wouldn't recognise cheeky Swiss orphan Heidi?
Keystone / Str
Sweden and Switzerland are too often confused – at least the tourism organisation Visit Sweden thinks so and is launching an advertising campaign to help clear things up.
Switzerland Tourism is relaxed about the news and says Switzerland is “unmistakable” anyway.
“Welcome to Sweden (not Switzerland)” is the title of the video circulated on social media by Visit Sweden. As the Swedish tourism office announced on Tuesday, both countries are beautiful and have the same initial letters in German and English.
External Content
But that’s where the similarities should stop, if the Swedes have their way. Every year, 120,000 people even google the question of whether Sweden and Switzerland are the same. In the US, a study by Visit Sweden found that half of the respondents were not sure if there was a difference.
In the Visit Sweden video, a woman dressed in what appears to be official attire addresses the Swiss directly in front of two Swedish flags. She proposes a treaty whereby each country concentrates on its core competencies.
According to this, the Swiss yodel to their hearts’ content in their mountains, while deep silence reigns in Sweden’s majestic nature. And while time is forgotten in Sweden, Switzerland builds luxury watches.
Switzerland Tourism told the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA that guests would not confuse Switzerland, neither with destinations with similar names nor with other Alpine destinations.
As a matter of principle, Switzerland Tourism said it did not comment on the advertising activities of other tourism organisations. However, Switzerland Tourism is happy to see “other humorous tourism advertising”.
Visit Sweden, the company in charge of Swedish tourism marketing, said it would contact its Swiss colleagues. Sweden does not mind being confused with Switzerland from time to time, it said. But it is worth clearing up the confusion.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Popular Stories
More
Foreign affairs
Go to war or stay put? Ukrainian men in Switzerland face fresh dilemmas
Is reforming the Swiss pension system still possible, and if so, how?
Solutions still need to be found to meet the challenge of an ageing population and to improve the pensions of low-paid workers, the majority of whom are women.
Swiss court rejects special assistance for student with disabilities
This content was published on
The Swiss Federal Court has rejected an application for special assistance from a student with disabilities at the federal technology institute ETH Zurich. Such assistance would inadmissibly lower the requirements for studying, it ruled.
Police arrest 15 drug dealers in Verbier in southern Switzerland
This content was published on
Swiss and French police have arrested 15 suspected drug dealers operating in the mountain resort of Verbier in southern Switzerland.
New European space tech centre in Switzerland launches its first project
This content was published on
The European Space Deep-Tech Innovation Centre (ESDI), launched in collaboration with the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), is to be located in the immediate vicinity of the PSI in northern Switzerland.
Swiss Federal Railways launches campaign for safety on public transport
This content was published on
The Swiss Federal Railways is launching a campaign for greater respect and safety on public transport, with posters to go up in stations and on trains starting next week.
Swiss scientists to use AI for improved weather and climate forecasts
This content was published on
MeteoSwiss and the Swiss Data Science Center have signed a four-year agreement to make greater use of AI in meteorology and climatology going forward.
This content was published on
Prices of owner-occupied homes rose in the third quarter of 2024 by 0.5%, with inflation affecting both apartments and single-family houses, says the Federal Statistical Office.
This content was published on
The honey harvest is projected to be lower than usual this year, as Swiss beekeepers report harvesting an average of just 16kg of honey per bee colony.
More young refugees in Switzerland following vocational training
This content was published on
More than half of young refugees and temporarily admitted persons between the ages of 16 and 25 are now in training. This is significantly more than five years ago.
One in five Swiss children suffers psychological abuse at home
This content was published on
In Switzerland, one in five children suffers psychological violence, and one in three has witnessed psychological violence between parents, says the association Kinderschutz Schweiz.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.