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Mark Winkler, CEO, Media Touristik, Switzerland

MW: And you see in Switzerland, we have a quite high standard of living and our clients are, I think, quite unusual clients for language schools so we get the academic people but we get many people who don’t really have an academic pathway [in mind] and who work in a bank, insurance company etc. We get nearly everybody,  hairdressers, machine engineers, mechanics.. and they want to go for three months to New Zealand or Australia just to learn English. And they can do so, because they can make the money in Switzerland.

"As we have four languages in Switzerland people know about the importance of speaking languages"

The PIE: As an agency, do you always feel that is was your responsibility to keep offering new products? Or was it your consumers that are pushing you to find new options?

“The Swiss are travellers and if you are a traveller you need to speak languages”

MW: I think there were both things you know. There is another important point: the Swiss like to travel around the world. Many Swiss are travelling as backpackers around the world all the time.

Many do let’s say for four weeks in Buenos Aires and then they travel for another two months through South America or they go a few weeks to study in New Zealand and then they travel through Asia and Australia and whatever. So the Swiss are travellers and if you are a traveller you need to speak languages, so many just start a language course and travel after that.

The PIE: Which market do you think is similar to Switzerland in terms of regions for studying abroad? It’s quite different from markets in China or India…

MW: I don’t really know, maybe the Dutch could be somehow similar. Maybe the Swedish market could be similar. But if you look to some other markets, people who go abroad to study are coming from wealthy families – in Switzerland this is not the case. Everybody just goes abroad to study.

The PIE: Where do you see new opportunities arising in the future? People you want to tuck into this Swiss tradition of studying abroad, what should they be offering or where?

MW: This is a very good question because you know, Swiss agents, they are quite loyal to their partners abroad and if you have got a new school it’s not easy to attract a Swiss agent.

I think the important thing is – if you have a new school, it has to be in a attractive location, because again it’s a combination of language course and being abroad in a nice place. When Lexis English started a language school in Scarborough Beach, Perth, in a short time they had many Swiss in that school because Scarborough Beach was attractive as a tourist destination… I think that’s important… so it’s also the lifestyle, the feeling…

“Swiss agents are quite loyal to their partners abroad and if you have got a new school it’s not easy to attract a Swiss agent”

The PIE: And within Switzerland is the market competitive?

MW: The market is very competitive… you know the Swiss market is very small actually and very competitive but many Swiss go abroad so it’s a kind of small market and big market at the same time.

There are only 7.5 million people living in Switzerland. And close to 2 million live in the French part and close to 1 million in the Italian part, so it’s about 5 million who live in the German part.

The PIE: And that’s the contingent who travel?

MW: The German contingent are the people who really travel the world. Not only for languages – for travelling!

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