 "Roger Federer's ad for Switzerland Tourism attracts criticism: 'Is it really worthwhile to...'")
Roger Federer’s most recent ad campaign for Switzerland Tourism has found some detractors with a Member of Parliament in the European country slamming the effort to bring more tourists into the nation.
Federer’s most recent video for Switzerland Tourism aimed to further boost the flux of visitors into the country with the autumn season getting highlighted in the campaign. However, the constant stream of visitors into the country has irked some who complain of “overtourism”.
Since the 20-time Grand Slam winner took over as the brand ambassador of tourism in the country, Switzerland has seen a massive boom of visitors. 25 million tourists reportedly visited Switzerland between May and October 2025. However, the boom in tourism has not gone down well for locals in some areas of a country of around 9 million people.
Federer’s campaign questioned
Federer was seen along with Hollywood actress Halle Berry in the ad video which tried to direct some of the tourist traffic in Grindelwald towards the autumn season. Switzerland Tourism director Martin Nydegger had stated the reason behind focusing on autumn in the video.
“We don’t want to put additional pressure on tourist hotspots that already attract enough visitors from abroad. With Roger Federer and Halle Berry, we are targeting less frequented regions and want to steer tourists more towards the autumn season. That’s why we went to Vitznau (on the shores of Lake Lucerne) and Emmetten (in the canton of Nidwalden) with these two stars. These two places are certainly not tourist hotspots,” he had told Blick.
This region is generally is considered quieter and that is why it has become a problem.
MP David Roth of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland who is an outspoken critic of the ‘overtourism’ recently asked why are such expensive campaigns needed when the infrastructure in the country for tourism is already overloaded.
“Have we generated additional traffic here with taxpayers’ money? Is it really worthwhile to attract tourists from all over the world to Switzerland with such expensive campaigns?” he asked. “Switzerland Tourism is overloading public infrastructure with public funds.”
Many locals too have previously shown frustration with heavy influx of tourists and the problems that it brings for them.
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