Where on Earth? (Week 6): Zurich, Switzerland

by Justin Glow on

Two of our readers got it right this week, but there can only be one winner. Congratulations go out to David Troyer for being the first to know the location of the photo above as Zurich, Switzerland. A warm thanks to Flickr user, ubiquity_zh, for capturing this stunning image of Switzerland’s largest city.

And no, it’s not a photograph of the first tornado to ever hit Zurich (actually, Switzerland does get the occasional twister). It’s smoke rising from a factory near the shores of Lake Zurich. The photo is titled “Feinstaub III,” which literally translates to “fine dust.” It’s a term that’s concerned with the quality of the air, and seeing the plume of smoke rise over the beautiful lake with the Swiss Alps standing silently in the background, you gain a better understanding of why the photographer chose such a title.

See you next week for another edition of Where on Earth.

Rent a Country For Your Next Company Event

by Justin Glow on

Sick of the boring company picnics at your local park? Try renting an entire country.

Along with a hand full of small villages in Austria and Germany, Liechtenstein — a small, landlocked country between Switzerland and Austria — can be rented from RentaVillage.com. Aimed at luring in large corporations, the company promises to “turn your events into an unforgettable experience.”

How do you even go about putting an entire country up for rent? Does the public get to vote on it? I don’t know that I’d want my entire country over run by Google or Sprint or whoever for an entire weekend.

Modernizing Zermatt

by Neil Woodburn on

Zermatt, Switzerland is one of those truly magical places where the outside world seems so very outside.

The small alpine village sits just below the world-famous Matterhorn and yet it still remains off the beaten path. Part of the reason is due to its isolation. When I visited shortly after graduating from college, I had to take a train deep into the heart of the Swiss Alps and past a large car park which signaled the end of the road. Cars, you see, are not allowed in Zermatt. Tourists must walk with their own two legs to get around.

As you might imagine with such restrictions against automobiles, Zermatt is a perfectly quaint, alpine village which has left the modern world far behind–until now, that is. According to an article in the Independent, Zermatt is modernizing. More specifically, Zermatt is modernizing its ski industry.

Zermatt has wonderful ski slopes. The locals, however, never invested in them. They had almost no ski lifts, only a single ski school, and no artificial snow whatsoever.

Apparently the locals have finally woke up and smelled the bacon; the underutilized cash cow on their back doorstep was not bringing in the euros like so many other wintertime retreats and so they decided to modernize.

Visitors to Zermatt can now enjoy the town’s “first ever fully integrated lift system.” In addition they can ski on man-made snow when conditions aren’t great and they can also choose between a variety of independent ski schools now operating.

So what does this mean for Zermatt? I don’t know. But, if this modernization begins to destroy the quaintness of the town as Zermatt embraces the lucrative ski industry, then I’m all against it.

The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report Ranks How Attractive Countries Are For Travel Investment

by Willy Volk on

The World Economic Forum recently released its Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report. According to Jennifer Blanke, Senior Economist of the Forum, the Index is “not a ‘beauty contest’, or a statement about the attractiveness of a country.” Rather, the Index measures factors that make it attractive to develop the travel and tourism industry of individual countries.

Of course, as many travel destinations are location-specific — you can’t have an attraction centered around Iguazu Falls if you live in Lichtenstein — but if you’ve got loads of money to invest in a new resort, you probably don’t want to put it in a dangerous or un-business-friendly location. Duh.

Anyway, according to the report, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany took the top 3 spots, for a variety of reasons, while the rest of the Top 10 included:

Personally, I found it interesting that the UAE, home to the future Louvre expansion, ranked 18.

The bottom spots are held almost exclusively held by African nations:

Of course, this isn’t very surprising, but I was amused by the fact that Malawi ranked so low. A few years ago, I toyed with the idea of opening a dive shop on Lake Malawi. The area is absolutely beautiful, the air temperature is comfortable year-round, and the water temperature is also very nice. Moreover, labor is virtually free. Anyway, my point is you should probably weigh everything before investing. Just because something ranks low on this list, doesn’t mean it isn’t the *perfect* spot for you and your needs.