Mountainous topography with spectacular glaciated scenery of pyramidal peaks like Matterhorn in the Alps, Arêtes, Cirques, hanging and U-shaped valleys and Swiss plateau all providing beautiful scenery and encourage sports activities like mountain drubbing.

 

 Open Air Museum Ballenberg

What began in 1978 with 16 characteristic Swiss buildings, is today an extensive exhibition with about 100 residential and agricultural buildings from all over Switzerland, on a 66 hectare large area: this is the Ballenberg Open Air Museum. The historic buildings and their kitchens, chambers and living rooms illustrate rural life in Switzerland.

 

Climate which is warm and sunny during summer leading to sunbathing, mountaineering, fishing, and swimming. Snow cover during winter provide ideal conditions for skiing and ice skating.

Drainage feature: Switzerland has beautiful blue lakes which act as swimming gas and fishing grounds. There are also spas which are mineralized springs used by people for health purposes. She also has rivers with cascading waterfalls presenting beautiful scenery.

Seven Springs - sources of the Simme River

Seven springs feed the Simme, a 55 kilometer long river in the Bernese Oberland. The waterfalls cascading over rocks that are several meters high are definitely worth a visit. The Simme's springs and rapids are considered to be places of special power.

Trümmelbach Falls - in the Valley of the 72 Waterfalls

The Trümmelbach Falls are the world's only glacier waterfalls that are accessible underground by lift, galleries, tunnels, paths and platforms. They alone carry the meltwater of the glaciers from the Jungfrau down to the valley - up to 20,000 liters of water per second. The water carries with it over 20,000 tons of boulders and scree per year and causes the entire mountain to shudder and make a thundering noise.

Variety of wildlife - flora and fauna. The Alpine vegetation on the Alps and the Jura are used for tourist camping and for study purposes. Besides the unique looking temperate animals like bears, seals attract tourists game hunting.

The various sports activities like skiing bobsledding, camping, climbing, hiking in the mountains, target shorting, bicycling, boating, gymnastics, swimming and wrestling.

Infrastructure especially hotels, inns, banks, electrified railroads - international headquarters like ICO, WHO, ICRC, Red Cross etc, and industries. All these attract tourists.

 

The famous Gotthard Train Tunnel, and thus the Gotthard Railway was opened in 1882. The highway tunnel was built about 100 years later. But you will be missing something well worth experiencing if you always take the tunnel. One should take the path through the Schöllenen Ravine and through the barren Urseren Valley up to the Pass Heights at least once: whether on foot, in a nostalgic PostBus or in a horse carriage like in the days of the famous Gotthard Post in the 19th century.

 

 Importance to tourism                                                                        

Tourism is one of the major foreign exchange earners in Swiss economy.

It has provided employment to a great number of the Swiss population.

It has facilitated the growth of other economic activities for example trade, agriculture and industry due to the need to cater for the increasing number of tourists.

It has led to the improvement in transport network. This has been mainly achieved through electrification of the railway.

Tourism has facilitated the growth of urban centres. Most tourist resorts are now major town centres of Switzerland.

Tourism has led to the improvement in international relations between Switzerland and her neighbouring countries.

It has led to the improvement in standards of living for the local population. Switzerland is one of the countries in the world with a high a capita income.

Source of government revenue through taxation of people and tourist companies.

Alternative land use in areas with limited resources like the Swiss Alps and the Swiss Jura.

Promotion of education and research like field work and scientific experiments around gazatted areas.

It helps in environmental protection by gazetting areas with different plant species and animals.

Map of Switzerland showing tourist resorts

The Matterhorn and Switzerland are inseparably linked to each other. The pyramid shaped colossus of a mountain, which is very difficult to climb, is said to be the most-photographed mountain in the world. The Klein-Matterhorn ("Little Matterhorn"), which can be reached via a funicular, lies adjacent to the Matterhorn.