Jemimah Rodrigues swaps the crease for Swiss peaks in Switzerland Tourism's new India campaign
Switzerland Tourism's new Friendship Ambassador for India, cricketer Jemimah Rodrigues, stars in a campaign film that takes her from Zurich to Jungfraujoch. Here is the itinerary worth stealing.
Indian cricketer Jemimah Rodrigues is Switzerland's newest travel guide. Switzerland Tourism named her its Friendship Ambassador for India in October, and has now released 'Jemimah: Finding Her Switzerland', a digital campaign film and microsite that follow her through Zurich and Interlaken, including a trip to Jungfraujoch where, the campaign notes, she saw snow for the first time.
Why Switzerland wants Indians to travel in winter
India is among Switzerland's top ten source markets, but Indian visitors tend to arrive in one big wave between April and June, when school holidays begin. The Rodrigues appointment, announced by Switzerland Tourism's Director India Christian Schoch, is aimed squarely at changing that: the brief is to get more Indians travelling in autumn and winter and to show the country as a year-round destination with lesser-known places, not just the postcard sights. It fits the tourism board's wider 'Travel Better' push to spread visitors across all four seasons.
She is not the first Indian sports star in the role. Olympic javelin champion Neeraj Chopra was named Switzerland's Friendship Ambassador in 2022, when his trip leaned heavily on skydiving and canyon jumping.
The Zurich leg
Rodrigues's version is gentler and, frankly, more copyable. In Zurich she explores the city on an e-bike, goes for a morning run, takes an e-boat out on Lake Zurich and finishes with a picnic at Rieterpark. The official campaign page describes the city as energetic and outdoorsy, and the itinerary proves you do not need a big budget or a mountain guide to enjoy it: a bike, a lake and a good bakery will do.
Interlaken and the top of Europe
The second half moves to Interlaken, Switzerland's adventure capital. Rodrigues rides a jetboat on Lake Brienz, gets her hands dirty at a chocolate-making workshop, and visits the Ballenberg Open-Air Museum. The big moment is Jungfraujoch, at 3,454 metres, which the campaign page bills as Europe's highest railway station. The day ends with sunset at Harder Kulm, the viewpoint above Interlaken at 1,322 metres.
The film also leans into the personal side of the trip, including time spent with her sibling, and the tourism board's pitch is that Switzerland works just as well for friends, families, siblings and solo travellers as it does for honeymooners.
How to use this for your own trip
- Copy the route: Zurich and Interlaken are linked by train, and the campaign page shows how trains, trams and boats connect the whole journey.
- Book the experiences: the official microsite links to the Lake Zurich boat tour, the Lake Brienz jetboat ride and the Interlaken chocolate workshop featured in the film.
- Go off-season: the whole point of the campaign is that autumn and winter are worth it, and you will share Jungfraujoch with fewer tour groups.
In Schoch's words, "What we love about Jemimah is the genuine excitement she brings to every experience."
The FHM take
Switzerland has spent decades selling itself to India through Bollywood song sequences. Putting a young cricketer on an e-bike in Zurich is a smarter move, because it sells the trip most of us can actually take. If it nudges a few thousand Indians to swap a crowded May holiday for a crisp November one, everyone wins, including your wallet.
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