France wins Swiss summer rally

The 7th Switzerland Meeting Trophy organised last weekend by Switzerland Tourism was won by the team from France.

The quirky summer rally that has since become a fixture in the MICE industry took 85 meetings and incentive tourism professionals to Switzerland to demonstrate the merits of the Swiss meetings infrastructure on a trail leading from Bern via Gstaad, Montreux and the Lavaux wine-growing region to Lausanne. Eight national teams from the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, North America, the Nordic countries (last year’s winners) and Russia took part in the rally from July 8 to 10, 2011.

These countries represent major source markets for conference and seminar tourism in Switzerland. The various stages of the tour in an urban environment, in the mountains, on a glacier (Glacier 3000) and on Lac Léman, as well as the visits to UNESCO World Heritage sites like Bern and the terraced vineyards of Lavaux, convinced the teams of the very varied possibilities for relaxation and the quality of the infrastructures that Switzerland has to offer on such a small space.