Tourism in Switzerland

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Tourism in Switzerland

Tourists are drawn to Switzerland's Alpine climate and landscapes, in particular for skiing and mountaineering.

Tourism begins with British mountaineers climbing the main peaks of the Bernese Alps in the early 19th century (Jungfrau 1811, Finsteraarhorn 1812). The Alpine Club in London is founded in 1857. Reconvalescence in the Alpine climate, in particular from Tuberculosis, is another important branch of tourism in the 19th and early 20th centuries for example in Davos, Graubьnden. Because of the prominence of the Bernese Alps in British mountaineering, the Bernese Oberland was long especially known as a tourist destination. Meiringen's Reichenbach Falls achieved literary fame as the site of the fictional death of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes(1893). The first organised tourist holidays to Switzerland were offered during the 19th century by the Thomas Cook and Lunn Travelcompanies.

Statistics

Official statistics of tourism were planned since 1852, but were only realized from 1934, and continued until 2003. Since 2004, the Federal Statistical Office had discontinued its own statistics, but collaborates with Switzerland Tourism in the publication of yearly "Swiss Tourism Figures". In the year 2011 as a total number of 4,967 registered hotels or hostels, offering a total of 240,000 beds in 128,000 rooms. This capacity was saturated to 41.7% (compared to 39.7% in 2005), amounting to a total of 38.8 million lodging nights. 14% of hotels were inGrisons, 12% each in the Valais and Eastern Switzerland, 11% in Central Switzerland and 9% in the Bernese Oberland. The ratio of lodging nights in relation to resident population ("tourism intensity", a measure for the relative importance of tourism to local economy) was largest in Grisons (8.3) and Bernese Oberland (5.3), compared to a Swiss average of 1.3. 56.4% of lodging nights were by visitors from abroad (broken down by nationality: 16.5% Germany, 6.3% UK, 4.8% USA, 3.6% France, 3.0% Italy)

The total financial volume associated with tourism, including transportation, is estimated to CHF 35.5 billion (as of 2010) although some of this comes from fuel tax and sales of motorway vignettes. The total gross value added from tourism is 14.9 billion. Tourism provides a total of 144,838 full time equivalent jobs in the entire country. The total financial volume of tourist lodging is 5.19 billion CHF and eating at the lodging provides an additional 5.19 billion. The total gross value added of 14.9 billion is about 2.9% of Switzerland's 2010 nominal GDP of 550.57 billion CHF.

The major airport of Switzerland is at Zurich, main railway connections are to Geneva, Zurich and Basel. The main connection across the Alps is via the Gotthard tunnels (road and railway).

The most visited Swiss tourist attractions are first, the Rhine Falls, second, the Berne Bear exhibit (both for free), and third, with over 1.8 million paid entries: Zoo Basel.

Notable tourist destinations in Switzerland:

Alpine

· Grisons

· Engadin

· Davos

· Eastern Switzerland

· Wildhaus

· Valais

· Aletsch

· Anzиre

· Saas-Fee

· Zermatt

· Bernese Oberland

· Grindelwald

· Gstaad

· Interlaken

· Bernese Alps

· Jungfrau

Cities

· Zьrich

· Bern

· Lucerne

· Basel

· Geneva

· Lausanne

· Canton Ticino

· Locarno

· Lugano

· Ascona

tourism switzerland alpine city

The Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps (German: Schweizer Alpen, French: Alpes suisses, Italian: Alpi svizzere, Romansh: Alps svizras), represents a major natural feature of the country and is, alongside with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main physiographic regions. The Swiss Alps extend over both the Western Alps and the Eastern Alps, encompassing an area sometimes called Central Alps.^[1] While the northern ranges from the Bernese Alps to the Appenzell Alps are entirely in Switzerland, the southern ranges from the Mont Blanc massif to the Bernina massif are shared with other countries such as France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. The Swiss Alps comprise all the mountains of Switzerland over 2,000 metres above sea level and almost all the highest mountains of the Alps, such as Monte Rosa (4,634 m), the Dom (4,545 m), the Lyskamm (4,527 m), the Weisshorn (4,506 m) and the Matterhorn (4,478 m). The other following major summits can be found in List of mountains of Switzerland. Since the Middle Ages, transit across the Alps played an important role in history. The region north of the St. Gotthard Passbecame the nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the early 14th century. The Swiss National Park (German: Schweizerischer Nationalpark; French: Parc National Suisse; Italian: Parco Nazionale Svizzero; Romansh: Parc Naziunal Svizzer) is located in the canton of Graubьnden in the east of Switzerland between Zernez,S-chanf, Scuol and the Fuorn Pass in the Engadin valley on the border with Italy. It is part of the worldwide UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.^[1]

As of 2009, it is the only National Park in Switzerland, though there are plans to create more.^[2] It has an area of 174.2 kmІ and is the largest protected area of the country. It was founded on 1 August 1914, the national holiday of Switzerland. It was one of the earliest national parks in Europe. In the park, one is not allowed to leave the road, make fire or sleep outside the Chamanna Cluozza; the mountain hut located in the park. It is also forbidden to disturb the animals or the plants, or to take home anything found in the park. Dogs are not allowed, not even on a leash. Due to these strict rules, the Swiss National Park is the only park in the Alps who has been categorized by the IUCN as a strict nature reserve, which is the highest protection level.

A visitor centre is located in Zernez.

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