Tourism

If you’re going on a certain kind of holiday, the price of a drink might take precedence over certain other factors, but even if you’re not planning on wearing a bright pink polo with a lurid slogan printed on the back, knowing the price of a pint is always useful.

The study, carried out by UK based FX comparison site Travelex, who produced an International Beer Index for 2017, looked at the average price of half a litre of beer in 32 countries which are popular holiday destinations for British holidaymakers.

The issue of tax in Europe does not seem to be a happy one when it comes to tech giants like Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook. According to France’s new Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, France and Germany can harmonize their corporate tax rates by 2018, paving the way for full harmonization across the eurozone.

Le Maire made the comments during a television interview with Bloomberg. When asked if he wishes to lower the corporate tax rate to 25 percent across all states in the eurozone, Le Maire replied that the Macron Government has decided first to reduce the level of taxation in France. He argued that the tax burden is "too high and too unstable."

After 10 weeks of construction, Switzerland finally opened what local authorities have been calling the "world’s longest suspension bridge." Named Europabrücke, or the Europe Bridge, this narrow pedestrian bridge hovers over the Grabengufer ravine, near Zermatt.

Hanging 278 feet (84.73 meters) in the air, you might want to hold someone’s hand for a little extra courage — but that won’t be possible. Only measuring 25.6 inches (65 centimeters) wide, the bridge is only large enough to allow for a single file line along its 1,620 feet length from end to end.

Overnight stays in hostels were added to the overall number by the Federal Statistical Office last year. Without them, the number of overnight stays in the first quarter would have fallen by 0.6 percent. The decline in Swiss and foreign visitors was roughly the same.

The three largest source markets of Swiss hotels, have all suffered decline in terms of visitor numbers. Among German guests the decline was 6.2%, with the number of overnight stays falling below the million mark for the first time in many years. But the Germans are still by far the most numerous group of foreigners in Swiss hotels, though the decline is massive. Ten years ago, there were 1.6 million overnight stays by German guests in the first quarter of the year.

With the development of China-Swiss relations, the winter sport industry has become one of the focuses of the two countries. World Winter Sports (Beijing) Expo 2017 ("WWSE," will be held September 7-10 in Beijing) will keep up with the development trend, inviting Switzerland as the Major Honored Guest Country to start relevant cooperation and promote the development of winter sport industry, enhancing WWSE to a new stage. WWSE is co-organized by Beijing Olympic City Development Association (BODA) and International Data Group (IDG).

Iron ore prices are retreating again and the overall Chinese economy is growing less quickly, but one sector is skyrocketing: outbound tourism. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation preliminary 2016 scorecard has Chinese spending $344 billion as foreign tourists, a jump of 12 per cent in local currencies and more than double the splurge of the next biggest spenders, Americans.

While travelers from China have grown to be Switzerland’s fifth largest market, with a record 1.52 million overnights in 2015, much of that is low-yield tour groups series taking the traditional route of Italy-Switzerland-France, and largely benefiting Swiss destinations such as Lucerne and Interlaken.

In a new study of tourist-friendly countries released Thursday by the World Economic Forum (WEF), European economies dominated the top-10 rankings, with Spain leading the pack, indicating the region was well placed to attract overseas visitors and create tourism jobs.

France took second place, followed by Germany, while the U.K. placed fifth, Italy ranked eighth and Switzerland was tenth.

The Alpine country lost 4 positions referred last survey in 2015. The Swiss index of tourism competitiveness stood at 4.9 on a scale that goes from 1 to 7, while two yeras ago, it was equal to 5 points. Switzerland lost ground (43rd position), especially in the exploitation of natural resources, while it remains the number one in the global ranking relative sustainable environment.

More Americans are traveling to Switzerland, visiting cities and mountain regions alike. U.S. arrivals and overnights increased again in 2016 compared to the previous year. For the seventh consecutive year, there has been an increase, showing total growth of more than 30% since 2009. Last year the Alpine country welcomed 854.687 americans tourists. The number of overnight hotel stays by US visitors also grew in 2016 to 1.84 million, a 5.5% increase from 2015.
“Switzerland is the best country in the world, according to a recent study by U.S. News &World Report. This will hopefully motivate even more Americans to find their way – or their way back – to Switzerland,” said Alex Herrmann, Director Americas, Switzerland Tourism.