Interview: Switzerland Tourism’s Grand Content Marketing Plan With National Geographic
Photo Credit: The Switzerland Grand Tour incorporates both rail and car travel. Switzerland Tourism
Skift Take
It will be interesting to see if more countries contract out large content marketing programs to established media companies, especially without any editorial oversight as was the case here with Switzerland.
Switzerland Tourism teamed up with National Geographic Traveler to develop a content platform on the Nat Geo website highlighting the newly created Switzerland Grand Tour.
The Grand Tour consists of 1,000 miles of railroad and highway journeys connecting both well-known and lesser visited destinations throughout the country. Switzerland Tourism is hoping to direct more long-haul customers to places not called Zurich or Zermatt in an effort to extend room nights and drive new business to traditionally underserved regions.
In preparation for the Grand Tour unveiling last month, the tourism board developed traditional online and print marketing materials to promote the initiative, but they also wanted something additional that was specifically designed for the North American market. In 2014, U.S. arrivals to Switzerland grew 3.7% over the previous year, but most of that was directed at luxury hotels in the iconic Alps destinations.
The Swiss marketing team chose National
