Switzerland expects India to become one of its top five revenue earners on account of tourists’ inflow over the next five years. At present, India ranks 11th on Switzerland’s tourist footfall ratings but has shown steady growth of 20 per cent in revenue terms over the past couple of years.

“If the Indian tourist footfall (to Switzerland) continues to grow at 20 per cent, India will come within the top five markets for us in next five years,” Michael Maeder, managing director, Switzerland Tourism India, said on Tuesday. Switzerland is famous in India for its locales due to the movie and television culture showing the nation’s landscapes.

According to Ritu Sharma, deputy director, Switzerland Tourism India, almost 95 per cent of Indians go to Switzerland for leisure trips. Almost 660,000 Indians visited Switzerland in 2011. “About 460,000 Indian visitors stayed overnight at four-star hotels, while another 200,000 spent at least seven days in other apartments,” Sharma added.

Maeder claimed that an Indian on an average spent 300 Swiss Francs (about Rs 16,200) per night. This translates to a total Indian tourist revenue generation of Rs 1,069 crore for Switzerland Tourism last year.

Switzerland Tourism has earmarked marketing budget of one million Swiss Francs (Rs 53. 63 lakh) to lure Indian travelers to Switzerland in 2012, Sharma said.

Though visitors from neighbouring European countries such as Germany, Holland, France and the UK are the top visitors to Switzerland at present, Maeder said the growth rate of tourists’ arrival from these countries is unlikely to increase significantly in future.