Dubai/Annecy, France: The Gulf is becoming an increasingly important source market for Swiss tourism despite currency levels in Switzerland reaching a two-year high this month with one US dollar buying 0.88 Swiss francs.

According to Switzerland Tourism, the number of Gulf arrivals increased by 38,441, a 24 per cent jump, between January and October this year compared to the same period last year with Kuwait (43%+), Saudi Arabia (27%+) and the UAE (23%+) contributing the largest increases

The number of combined overnight stays from the Gulf to Switzerland increased by 98,446,a  20.5 per cent increase, suggesting Gulf visitors have developed an appetite for Swiss tourism.

Gulf airlines are also seeing growth to Switzerland with Emirates and Etihad Airways flying more combined total passengers to Geneva than last year. According to Geneva Airport, up until last week Emirates had flown 168,660 passengers on the Dubai-Geneva route compared to 148,748 passengers in the whole of 2012.

An Emirates spokesperson told Gulf News in an e-mailed statement that “inbound and outbound booking levels have been very healthy since we launched [the route] in 2011.”

While Etihad Airways has had more of the same year as it did in 2012, it is likely the Abu Dhabi-based airline will still fly more passengers by the year-end.

According to Geneva Airport, Etihad had flown 109,749 passengers up until last week on the Abu Dhabi-Geneva compared to 112,190 last year.

But Swiss tourism might not be the sole benefactor of passenger number growth. Geneva Airport is not just used by those travelling to Switzerland... it is also used by nearby cities — and nearby countries – such as Annecy in France, which is just 41 kilometres away.

The French city is a popular summer tourism destination with its well-known lake but is also popular in the winter because it is close to the Alps.

According to the Annecy tourism office the city attracts 2.5 million visitors a year, injecting around €300 million into the local economy. With 60 hotels and 2,200 rooms the average yearly capacity rate is 65 per cent but in the peak summer period capacity spikes to 95 per cent.

A spokesperson for L’Imperial Palace, a four-star lakeside hotel in Annecy, told Gulf News that the hotel was seeing an increasing amount of visitors travelling from the Gulf and said that most international visitors use the airport in Geneva.