The Making of Tourism Policy in Modern Switzerland
(Summary)
13/06/07 by MORIMOTO, Keita
Switzerland has been famous as scenic area, because of the Alps, since 18th century. Many peoples from various countries have visited there.In Switzerland the tourism policy began to control an image about Switzerland when tourism policy encountered the crisis. In Switzerland the number of tourists raised rapidly from the second half of 19th century. Originally the Alps were a place in which people felt fear, but they came to visit the mountains for entertainment by the railways easily in 19th century.
The tourism industry was not intervened by the federal government. The tourism society and the Switzerland National Railway tried to attract foreign tourists. But some people like Franz Seiler argued for a foundation of a national tourism office just before World War I. Especially the hotel industry realized a crisis that foreign tourists may drop in future. We can observe some background.
First, there was a competition with foreign countries. In Austria and France the tourism promotion and the propaganda activities were supported by the state. These countries with the Alps were offering serious competition to Switzerland.
Second was that hotels were increasing rapidly in Switzerland. If business was declining, they couldn’t avoid difficulty in their finance. They thought that the state should coordinate these imbalances.
On 4 April 1911 one member of the National Diet, Franz Seiler and his colleagues made a motion for this. He argued about a position of tourism in the Swiss economy. He demanded that this organization should make propaganda for Switzerland as a tourist attraction in foreign countries. Tourism for him would have many senses. Tourism would give income for not only hotel and transportation but also building industry and agriculture. It was correct that the state takes notice of tourism industry to win a competition with foreign countries.
The tourism office should be planed a semi-governmental corporation and not a governmental office. But it took the government six years to realize this plan, because the Swiss National Railway opposed the plan on the unification of propaganda organization. Furthermore on 1914 this work was interrupted because of the internal exhibition in Bern and the outbreak of World War I. Of course the tourists in Switzerland were reduced by this war. But the crisis promoted to establish tourism policy. People reconfirmed tourism as major industry in Switzerland. They thought that the reconstruction of tourism needed the widespread propaganda The Swiss National Railway even showed willingness to compromise. On 28 September 1917 the Parliament decided a bill to pay the Swiss Central Office for Tourism.
The tourism was recognized as one overall phenomenon by states in early 20th century and became one industry promoted by states.
Presentation (30/5/07)
Questions and Answers Session summerized by Ms Yasui
Q1: Is there any kind of law to prohibit prostitution in Switzerland?
Who were the people who were traveling in Switzerland? Did they come with their family?
A: Most of the travelers came to Switzerland to climb the Alps or to enjoy hot springs. They did not always come with the family.
Comment from Prof. Fujikawa: You have to check it out. Mostly prostitution was considered to be harmful to the tourism. However, it was at the same time considered necessary evil and it played a sort of important role in the history of tourism.
Q2: You said the National Railway opposed the propaganda policy of the tourism office. Why did they oppose the plan? Propaganda would make profit for the Railway too.
A: To get the answer of this question is one of the purposes for me to go to Switzerland and study there.
Q3: Why did mountain climbing become popular in the 19th century?
A: As you know, the Alps were too dangerous to climb before the 19th century. People feared the mountains. After the mountain railways were constructed in the late 19th century, it became easier to climb the Alps.
Q4: What attracted people to Switzerland? Was it only the Alps? Were there any economic reasons that caused the popularity of the tourism in Switzerland?
A: It is sure the people who came to Switzerland were mostly the people from the middle class in Germany.
Q5: You mentioned Switzerland was the destination of Grand Tour. Since when?
A: It was the 19th century when the Grand Tour began to visit Switzerland. They were the sons of nobility from Britain and Italy.
Q6: Why did the Grand Tour choose Switzerland as their destination? What was their purpose?
A: After the Thomas Cook’s book, the tour to Switzerland became popular.
"The Making of Tourism Policy in Modern Switzerland" is fresh because both tourism policy and modern Switzerland is unfamiliar topic for me and is very clear. But I have a question - what is the aim of "Table 2 Percentage of countries" I think that Table 1, Table3 and Table4 are important to introduce Tourism Policy in Modern Switzerland, but comparing percentage of these countries is meaningless.
by Kakeru Fujiwara(3rd grade)
He reported Tourism in Switzerland. I don’t know about history of Switzerland and tourism. They are out of my sight. He researched Position of tourism in Swiss economy, and Propaganda. He noticed Details of the debate on the Tourism Office and Contents of Propaganda, so he showed us some concrete date. And, He revealed his plan to stay in Switzerland as a Student at Bern University next year. I think his plan is so good, because I have no plan to go abroad
by Takuya Khomoto(3rd grade)