Swiss Nuggets: Observations on Switzerland following a long-weekend visit
Touron is a great new word, created by smooshing together tourist and moron. It is often used to describe lads consuming lager and chicken-tikka pizza on the Costa del Sol. This word may have found a wonderful growth market in describing Indian tourists in Switzerland.
India is now one of Switzerland’s fastest growing tourist markets, thanks to Dilwale Dulhania le Jayenge. And Indians are now visible everywhere.
In terms of numbers, about 250,000 Indian tourists visit Switzerland every year. That is still only about 1.5% of the market, maybe 5% once business travellers and sports-tourists are taken out of the denominator. But Indians are more conspicuous than the numbers suggest. Maybe it’s the brides on group honeymoons, still wearing their mehendi and wedding jewellery. Maybe it’s the garment exporter, travelling with his extended family, raising his voice on a business call to compensate for weak cell phone reception in the Alps. Maybe its because I’m Indian and I tend to observe people and behaviours I’m already familiar with.
Whichever way, the Swiss tourist industry is warmly embracing this growth market. The Swiss are now promoting Bollywood movies that are set in Switzerland, where not just the dream song-and-dance sequence is shot in Switzerland. And Jungfraujoch, the train station at the top of Europe, the climax of a trip into the Alps, now features a Restaurant Bollywood.
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