India missing from Switzerland’s tourism radar

With the panic surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic starting to subside in Europe, Switzerland has opened its doors for global tourism, but not for India.

From July 20, in tune with European Union guidelines, Switzerland lifted restrictions for travellers from 21 countries apart from European nations. But India — currently ranking third on the world Corona dashboard – has been excluded, news agency IANS says.

Travellers from certain regions will be quarantined for 10 days after entering Switzerland, one of the few nations in the world which has managed to control the impact of the pandemic, says the report.

“We have not finalised any date for India yet. As for the isolation, the travellers will have to go into self-paid quarantine,” said a spokesperson for Switzerland Tourism in Mumbai.

Besides opening the borders and gradually relaxing the rules, the country’s tourism board has initiated a ‘Clean & Safe’ label campaign, IANS says. Switzerland Tourism India Deputy Director Ritu Sharma said a total of six industry-specific labels are available for hotels, restaurants, navigation companies, cable cars, public transportation and meeting facilities.

Switzerland Tourism, a federal public corporation formed in 1994, opened its first branch in India in Mumbai (1977) followed by Delhi (2000), and has operations in 28 countries.