The summer cities campaign

The pandemic hit Swiss city tourism particularly hard. In 2022, cities were still short of hotel overnight stays by more than 11% compared with 2019, the last “normal” year before the pandemic. This is in contrast to rural destinations and mountain regions, which began to recover much more quickly.

Switzerland Tourism (ST) therefore launched an actual “recovery programme” for urban destinations in 2023. The goal here was to promote the wide range on offer for city travellers in the summer months. A sustainable touch with reference to the Swisstainable movement was also required. The campaign was financed exclusively through ST funds, from the regular budget as well as recovery funds.

Crystal-clear water in the middle of the city

“Summer in the City” showcased water as a major theme in Swiss tourism advertising worldwide. After all, it is a unique selling point that every Swiss city, including its capital Bern and its largest city Zurich, has crystal-clear and clean rivers, lakes and outdoor pools that invite you to take a refreshing dip. This is often unimaginable, especially for travellers from the world’s major cities.

A variety of fountains, from simple drinking fountains to elaborate water features, also offered a place to cool off in the cities over summer. ST presented a range of water-related experiences in the city. What’s more, the “Fountain Dip” product development was used to stage several of the cities’ fountains as a tourist experience aimed especially at domestic guests.

A pop-up bar at the fountain and its own summer festival at the historic post office building in Lugano, a beach atmosphere around the water feature in Zurich’s trendy Europaallee neighbourhood, coffee and cake at the Veltheim fountain in Winterthur and an urban summer feel at the fountain at the unique Brunswick Monument in Geneva – to name just a few of the fountain experiences on offer. As an ST cities campaign, water in the city reached 112 million marketing contacts worldwide and generated a total of 146 media reports.

In Switzerland, it was even mentioned in the “Tagesschau” programme, both on SRF in German-speaking Switzerland and on RTS in French-speaking Switzerland.

Facts and figures relating to all city activities, incl. campaigns

*Including recovery funds **Only views of pages with specific cities campaign content are counted.