Travel And Tourism in Switzerland

Euromonitor International's Travel And Tourism in Switzerland report offers a comprehensive guide to the market at a national level. It looks at travel accommodation, transportation, car rental, tourist attractions and retail travel. It identifies the leading companies and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market, including background information on disposable income, annual leave and holiday taking habits.

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Product coverage

Airline capacity and utilisation; Arrivals by country of origin; Arrivals by mode of transport; Arrivals by purpose of visit; Car rental services by sector; Demand factors; Departures by destination; Departures by mode of transport; Departures by purpose of visit; Domestic tourism by destination; Domestic tourism by mode of transport; Tourism receipts and expenditure; Tourist attractions; Transportation; Travel accommodation; Travel retail services

Executive summary

Increased tourist movements not enough to keep spending level in 2005, as average spending per traveller drops

Total tourism spending declined by 1% in current value terms in 2005. This comes as somewhat of a surprise in the general climate of a still recovering tourism industry. The positive trend in the industry is confirmed by the increasing number of travellers in Swiss tourism. Arrivals to Switzerland grew by over 5% in 2005, while departures and domestic tourist trips each grew by around 2%. But in the meantime, in current value terms, outgoing tourism spending dropped by close to 5%, while incoming tourism spending was down 1% and domestic down 2%.

Travellers in 2005 turned to more frequent, less expensive forms of travel and at the same time, prices were down to increase volume growth of travel and tourism now that the industry has virtually recovered from bad years and needs to expand.

The coming of age of the demographic giants of Asia are now set to become big business for Swiss tourism

In 2005, one very remarkable statistic concerning the Swiss tourism industry is the exponential growth of the number of Chinese travellers to the country, followed by the Indians. With the SARS epidemic behind and global economic recovery, China has resumed its trend of double-digit growth in tourists heading to Switzerland. But 2005 saw a spectacular increase in Chinese visitors with 90% growth to 141,300. Everyone is aware of the huge potential of China, and as the Chinese government continues to liberalise travel abroad, it seems that Switzerland, a strong vehicle of the Western way of life, is receiving much attention.

With Indian travellers also passing the 100,000 visitor mark for the first time in 2005, Asian travellers represent the best potential for growth that Switzerland has seen in decades.

Shorter, more frequent but less expensive trips are the latest trend in Swiss tourism

In 2005 the traditional 2-week trips are increasingly replaced by either trips shorter than one week or longer than 2-3 weeks. The Swiss made on average 2.5 trips this year. Over the review period, there was a tendency amongst Swiss travellers to split or shorten the main holiday and, at the same time, take an increased number of short breaks. The number of shorter breaks of 1-3 days is growing. Several factors can be evoked, but the main ones are the increasing popularity of weekend breaks thanks to better and cheaper transportation, namely within Europe, as well as the increasing individualism of households which often do not have children allowing for easier travel.

Growth of Internet sales picking up again after slowing in certain sectors, still has much potential

Growth of Internet transactions in 2005 has exceeded 50% in travel accommodation, transportation, car rental and travel retail. This represents a gain of momentum in most sectors and indicates that consumer confidence is high and that more people are still learning to use the Internet to its full possibilities.

However, with the exception of a very few areas, Internet sales still represented less than 5% of total sales in all sectors of the industry in 2005. In light of the sheer practicality of Internet reservations and sales, this indicates there is still vast potential for Internet sales in the Swiss tourism industry.

Introduction of low-cost car rental and re-centering of travel retail market the highlights of the competitive environment

The player with the most potential in the Swiss travel and tourism industry is surely easyCar, the new low-cost car rental agency by the easyGroup and which broke directly into the top players of the sector still dominated by Hertz. Elsewhere, while Deutsche Lufthansa and Swiss International Airlines share the skies, Accor Hotels is still battling strongly to establish its position and consolidate the Swiss hotel sector. Finally, travel retail has seen strong activity in terms of mergers and acquisitions by the main players such as Hotelplan, Kuoni and TUI to re-centre their core activity and focus on consolidating the sector.

Outlook bright for Swiss travel and tourism industry

Overall expenditure in the industry is expected to increase steadily over the forecast period. The greatest source of growth should be incoming tourism expenditure and the sectors doing the best are expected to be transportation and car rental as tourists become more mobile and expect to travel and discover more and more.

Christ the Redeemer

Christ the Redeemer (Portuguese: Cristo Redentor), is a statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.The statue stands 39.6 metres (130 feet) tall, weighs 700 tons, and is located at the peak of the 700-m (2296-foot) Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the city.

A symbol of Christianity, the statue has become an icon of Rio and Brazi

History

The idea for erecting a large statue atop Corcovado had been around since mid 1850s, when Catholic priest Pedro Maria Boss requested financing from Princess Isabel to build a large religious monument. Princess Isabel did not think much of the idea, which was completely dismissed in 1889, when Brazil became a Republic, with laws mandating the separation of church and state

The second proposal for a large landmark statue on the mountain was made in 1921 by the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro.^{[citation needed]} The archdiocese organized an event called Semana do Monumento ("Monument Week") to attract donations. The donations came mostly from Brazilian Catholics.The designs considered for the "Statue of the Christ" included a representation of the Christian cross, a statue of Jesus with a globe in his hands, and a pedestal symbolizing the world.^{[citation needed]} The statue of Christ the Redeemer with open arms was chosen

Local engineer Heitor da Silva Costa designed the statue; it was sculpted by Paul Landowski, a French monument sculptor of Polish origin. A group of engineers and technicians studied Landowski's submissions and the decision was made to build the structure out of reinforced concrete (designed by Albert Caquot) instead of steel, more suitable for the cross-shaped statue.The outer layers are soapstone, chosen for its enduring qualities and ease of use. Stone for the monument was taken from Limhamn, in Malmö, Sweden. Construction lasted five years — from 1926 to 1931 and the monument was opened on October 12, 1931. The cost of the monument was $250,000.

Recognitions and honors

In October 2006, on the statue's 75th anniversary, Archbishop of Rio Cardinal Eusebio Oscar Scheid consecrated a chapel (named for the patron saint of Brazil - Nossa Senhora Aparecida) under the statue.This allows Catholics to hold baptisms and weddings there.

As of 7 July 2007, Christ the Redeemer was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a list compiled by the Swiss-based The New Open World Corporation In Brazil there was a campaign Vote no Cristo (Vote for the Christ) which had the support of private companies, namely telecommunications operators that stopped charging voters to make telephone calls to vote.

Additionally, leading corporate sponsors including Banco Bradesco and Rede Globo spent "millions" of dollars in the effort to have the statue voted into the top seven. Around the same time, the computer game Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword included the statue as a world wonder.

PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT

There are about 110 pyramids currently known in Egypt, many in a state of great disrepair and almost unrecognisable. Some were built as burial places for kings and others for queens. A pyramid also may have represented a stairway for the king to ascend to the heavens. Another possibility is that it was symbolic of the primeval mound on which the sun god/creator was born.

How the Egyptians managed the complex organisation of labour and the physical movement of large stone blocks is still a matter for debate. Pyramid construction may have involved ramps being erected around the pyramid. Blocks of stone would have been pulled up on sledges and the ramps dismantled later. It is believed that most of the labour for the construction of the pyramids would have come from farmers who were available during the inundation season when the Nile River flooded and farmland was underwater. It would also have been an ideal time for the transportation by boat of large stone blocks from their quarries to the pyramid sites.

The earliest pyramid was the Step Pyramid of king Djoser of the Old Kingdom's 3rd Dynasty over 4,600 years ago. The pyramid (at right) was the largest structure ever erected at Saqqara, the necropolis that overlooked the ancient capital of Memphis. Its construction was initially in the form of a low mastaba tomb upon which extra levels were gradually added to give it a step-like appearance.

Underneath Djoser's pyramid was a complex system of corridors with a burial chamber lined with Aswan pink granite about 28 metres underground. The entrance was sealed with a three-tonne granite plug. The pyramid's outside would have been cased with fine limestone, but this was removed long ago. Nearby were the Mortuary Temple, a Great Court and various other structures.
The first true pyramid (at right) was developed for King Sneferu during the 4th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. It is referred to as the Red Pyramid, because of its colour, or the North Pyramid because of its position at Dashur south of Cairo. It was about 105 metres high with its sides measuring 220 metres.

The largest pyramid ever built was the Great Pyramid at Giza southwest of modern Cairo (see Giza and the Pyramids). Built for king Khufu, this pyramid was completed around 2550 BC.

It is estimated that the pyramid contains approximately 2,300,000 blocks of stone with an average weight of 2.5 tonnes each and some up to 15 tonnes. Its sides measure 230 metres in length. The structure would have towered about 146.6 metres high, but it is now a little shorter owing to the outer casing having been removed to build many of Cairo's buildings during the Middle Ages. The interior design was changed during the pyramid's construction and the burial chamber was relocated.

One of its most spectacular features is the enormous sloping Grand Gallery. At the Gallery's top is a low corridor which leads into the King's Chamber, the walls of which are made of polished granite. A large granite sarcophagus is open and no burial goods have ever been found.

To the east of the pyramid, some of the smooth basalt paving of the mortuary temple remains and the causeway which led to the river temple is now buried with the valley temple being under modern buildings. Small pyramids for queens are adjacent to the Great Pyramid, as are boat pits.

In 1954, a large cedar boat (pictured at left) was uncovered in one of the pits and then reassembled. It is now on display next to the pyramid. A second boat remains in pieces in another covered pit. The boats may have been provided for the deceased king to travel through the underworld.

The Giza Plateau also is home to two other large pyramids for the subsequent kings, Chephren and Menkaura. As with the Great Pyramid, both of these pyramids have valley temples and mortuary temples connected by causeways. However, next to Chephren's valley temple is the famous 73-metre long Sphinx and its associated temple.

Despite controversy over its age, most Egyptologists believe that the Sphinx was carved from a rocky outcrop at the same time as Chephren's pyramid.

The resources for building enormous pyramids during the rest of the Old Kingdom could not be mustered and the pyramids were both smaller and less well built. The 5th Dynasty pyramid of Unas at Saqqara is famous for its Pyramid Texts - the first funerary texts carved into the walls of any pyramid. The pyramid is located just south of the walled enclosure of the pyramid of Djoser.

During the Middle Kingdom, kings again built themselves pyramids, but being largely of mud-brick, they have not survived very well. Elaborate interior designs failed to stop ancient tomb robbers from breaking in and stealing the burial goods.

The time of large pyramids had passed, although small pyramids were used in some New Kingdom private burials as superstructures for funerary chapels. Restored examples exist at Deir el-Medina, the village of the workmen who constructed the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

Pyramids were also built south of Egypt in ancient Nubia (the northern part of today's Sudan), where there are actually more than in Egypt. Although being influenced by the Egyptian pyramids, the pyramids in Nubia had their own style and were built on a smaller scale and with steeper sides. In the case of the Nubian pyramids, the tombs of owners were usually underground with the pyramid built on top. The last pyramid was built in Nubia in the 4th century AD.

Agra, once the capital of the Mughal Empire during the 16th and early 18th centuries, is one and a half hours by express train from New Delhi. Tourists from all over the world visit Agra not to see the ruins of the red sandstone fortress built by the Mughal emperors but to make a pilgrimage to Taj Mahal, India’s most famous architectural wonder, in a land where magnificent temples and edificies abound to remind visitors about the rich civilization of a country that is slowly but surely lifting itself into an industrialized society.
The postcard picture of Taj Mahal does not adequately convey the legend, the poetry and the romance that shroud what Rabindranath Tagore calls "a teardrop on the cheek of time". Taj Mahal means "Crown Palace" and is in fact the most well preserved and architecturally beautiful tomb in the world. It is best described by the English poet, Sir Edwin Arnold, as "Not a piece of architecture, as other buildings are, but the proud passions of an emperor’s love wrought in living stones." It is a celebration of woman built in marble and that’s the way to appreciate it.

Taj Mahal stands on the bank of River Yamuna, which otherwise serves as a wide moat defending the Great Red Fort of Agra, the center of the Mughal emperors until they moved their capital to Delhi in 1637. It was built by the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan in 1631 in memory of his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, a Muslim Persian princess. She died while accompanying her husband in Burhanpur in a campaign to crush a rebellion after giving birth to their 14th child. The death so crushed the emperor that all his hair and beard were said to have grown snow white in a few months.
When Mumtaz Mahal was still alive, she extracted four promises from the emperor: first, that he build the Taj; second, that he should marry again; third, that he be kind to their children; and fourth, that he visit the tomb on her death anniversary. He kept the first and second promises. Construction began in 1631 and was completed in 22 years. Twenty thousand people were deployed to work on it. The material was brought in from all over India and central Asia and it took a fleet of 1000 elephants to transport it to the site. It was designed by the Iranian architect Ustad Isa and it is best appreciated when the architecture and its adornments are linked to the passion that inspired it. It is a "symbol of eternal love".
The Taj rises on a high red sandstone base topped by a huge white marble terrace on which rests the famous dome flanked by four tapering minarets. Within the dome lies the jewel-inlaid cenotaph of the queen. So exquisite is the workmanship that the Taj has been described as "having been designed by giants and finished by jewellers". The only asymmetrical object in the Taj is the casket of the emperor which was built beside the queen’s as an afterthought. The emperor was deposed by his son and imprisoned in the Great Red Fort for eight years but was buried in the Taj. During his imprisonment, he had a view of the Taj.
As a tribute to a beautiful woman and as a monument for enduring love, the Taj reveals its subtleties when one visits it without being in a hurry. The rectangular base of Taj is in itself symbolic of the different sides from which to view a beautiful woman. The main gate is like a veil to a woman’s face which should be lifted delicately, gently and without haste on the wedding night. In indian tradition the veil is lifted gently to reveal the beauty of the bride. As one stands inside the main gate of Taj, his eyes are directed to an arch which frames the Taj.
The dome is made of white marble, but the tomb is set against the plain across the river and it is this background that works its magic of colours that, through their reflection, change the view of the Taj. The colours change at different hours of the day and during different seasons. Like a jewel, the Taj sparkles in moonlight when the semi-precious stones inlaid into the white marble on the main mausoleum catch the glow of the moon. The Taj is pinkish in the morning, milky white in the evening and golden when the moon shines. These changes, they say, depict the different moods of woman.
Different people have different views of the Taj but it would be enough to say that the Taj has a life of its own that leaps out of marble, provided you understand that it is a monument of love. As an architectural masterpiece, nothing could be added or substracted from it.