Indians have had a fascination with Switzerland, ever since Bollywood started shooting dreamy song sequences there three decades ago. From movie shoots to conferences to even venues of 'dream weddings', the scenic European nation commands significant 'brand recall' as a tourist paradise. In November, Switzerland announced it aimed to attract up to a million tourists from India by 2020.
But as diverse cultures come into contact, tourism also has an unsavoury consequence of exacerbating differences. So, one comes across online tourist forums complaining about 'ill-mannered' tourists from China and Indians 'hoarding' food and sharing plates!
Reading this notice I felt angry, humiliated and wanted to protest.
— Harsh Goenka (@hvgoenka) July 22, 2019
But a realisation dawned that we as tourists are loud, rude, not culturally sensitive. With India becoming an international power, our tourists are our best global ambassadors. Let’s work on changing our image! pic.twitter.com/7R4ZrZIXKi
On July 22, eminent industrialist Harsh Goenka tweeted an image of an information sheet from a hotel in Gstaad in Switzerland. Responding to a tweet from a journalist, Goenka said he had seen the information sheet.
The information sheet from the Hotel arc-en-ciel in Gstaad is addressed specifically to “guests from India”. The notice from Hotel arc-en-ciel asks the guests to “observe the following rules”. It is unclear when the information sheet was issued. It starts with rules for the breakfast buffet and asks the guests “not to take anything with you, the food is for breakfast only”.
Hotel arc-en-ciel then apparently refers to the perception that some tourists take the restaurant cutlery with them. The notice states, “Please note that other guests also want an appetising buffet. Only use the cutlery provided.” The information sheet then refers to hotel dishes being “shared” for two or more persons and lists charges for each additional person.
The Hotel arc-en-ciel then refers to the issue of noise, instructing guests “to be quiet in the corridor and not speak loudly on the balcony”.
Soon after Goenka, the chairman of RPG Enterprises, posted the Hotel arc-en-ciel information sheet on his Twitter account, other social media users also referred to it. Some posted an “apology” letter purportedly from Christiane Matti, the manager who had issued the information sheet.
The “apology” letter notes the information sheet was a “misunderstanding” and it was never the hotel's intention to “disclaim all our dear Indian guests as misbehaving tourists”. The letter notes the sheet was issued to inform about “food sharing” in restaurants and followed complaints of excessive noise after midnight. The letter claims the information sheet was withdrawn as soon as the hotel realised it may be “misunderstood as racism”.
A columnist for the Mumbai Mirror also claimed to have written to the Hotel arc-en-ciel to ask about the notice, to which the hotel responded with the same apology email.
The Hotel arc-en-ciel has a 9.2 rating on booking.com and was shown as having a room price that is equivalent to Rs 32,000 per night.
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While the information sheet from Hotel arc-en-ciel was subjected to considerable criticism on social media, some users also said it highlighted common complaints about Indian tourists.
Goenka himself said Indian tourists should change their image. He tweeted, “Reading this notice I felt angry, humiliated and wanted to protest. But a realisation dawned that we as tourists are loud, rude, not culturally sensitive. With India becoming an international power, our tourists are our best global ambassadors. Let’s work on changing our image!”
