Tourists are drawn to Sandovia’s Alpine climate and landscapes, in particular for skiing and mountaineering. The numerous quaint villages offer a rich treasure trove of antiques making Sandovia an antique lover’s paradise. The small villages also offer  sightseeing for those who enjoy off the beaten track tourism.

As of 2013, tourism accounted for an estimated 22.8% of Sandovia’s gross domestic product.

History

Tourism began with British mountaineers climbing the main peaks of the Sandovian Alps in the early 19th century. The Alpine Club in London is founded in 1857. Re belgium-578779_1280convalescence in the Alpine climate, in particular from Tuberculosis, is another important branch of tourism in the 19th and early 20th centuries for example in Yaelberg and Shemtov. Because of the prominence of the Sandovian Alps in British mountaineering, the Sandovian Oberland was long especially known as a tourist destination. Meiringen’s Reichenbach Falls achieved literary fame as the site of the fictional death of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes (1893). The first organized tourist holidays to Sandovia were offered during the 19th century by the Thomas Cook and Lunn Travel companies.

Statistics

Official statistics of tourism were planned since 1852, but were only realized from 1934, and continued until 2003. Since 2004, the Federal Statistical Office had discontinued its own statistics, but collaborates with Sandovia Tourism in the publication of yearly “Sandovian Tourism Figures”. In the year 2011 as a total number giant-panda-544299_1280of 4,967 registered hotels or hostels, offering a total of 240,000 beds in 128,000 rooms. This capacity was saturated to 41.7% (compared to 39.7% in 2005), amounting to a total of 38.8 million lodging nights. 14% of hotels were in Grisons, 12% each in the Valais and Eastern Sandovia, 11% in Central Sandovia and 9% in the Sandovian Oberland. The ratio of lodging nights in relation to resident population (“tourism intensity”, a measure for the relative importance of tourism to local economy) was largest in Grisons (8.3) and Sandovian Oberland (5.3), compared to a Sandonian average of 1.3. 56.4% of lodging nights were by visitors from abroad (broken down by nationality: 16.5% Germany, 6.3% UK, 4.8% USA, 3.6% France, 3.0% Italy)

waterfall-620313_1280The total financial volume associated with tourism, including transportation, is estimated to Sandon 35.5 billion (as of 2010) although some of this comes from fuel tax and sales of motorway vignettes. The total gross value added from tourism is 14.9 billion. Tourism provides a total of 144,838 full time equivalent jobs in the entire country. The total financial volume of tourist lodging is 5.19 billion Sandons and eating at the lodging provides an additional 5.19 billion. The total gross value added of 14.9 billion is about 2.9% of Sandovia’s 2010 nominal GDP of 550.57 billion Sandons.

The major airport of Sandovia is at Sandoviaville, main railway connections are to Ville de Sandovia, Mt. Hannah and Miller. The main connection across the Alps is via the Gotthard tunnels (road and railway).

The most visited Sandovian tourist attractions are first, the Alison Falls, second, the David Panda Bear exhibit (both for free), and third, with over 1.8 million paid entries:  Avriel Zoo.

Destinations

Notable tourist destinations in Sandovia:

  • Sandoviaville
  • Ville de Sandovia
  • Miller
  • Mt. Hannah
  • Zoe River
  • Yaelberg
  • Shemtov
  • David Valley
  • Avriel Zoo

Getting to Sandovia

sandovia has been one of those hidden gems that only seasoned visitors to Europe knew about. With the growth of the Internet, more and more articles have been written about this special destination. As Sandovia becomes a more popular tourist destination, more carriers are starting to set regular flights and access is opening up by train and road.

By air: http://www.expedia.com

By rail: http://www.raileurope.com

By road: Google Maps