Sweden vs Switzerland. Even those of us only slightly clued into European geography know that these two countries, which aren’t anywhere near each other, are indeed separate places.
However, the confusion seems to be pretty common across the world – Joe Biden, we’re looking at you – and Sweden is officially tired of it.
The country’s tourism board have launched a new campaign, and a satirical accompanying video, to get to the nitty-gritty of how the two places vary. The video is hosted by a mock Swedish ‘official’ who lays out what each of the countries is entitled to represent.
Switzerland gets banks, Sweden gets sandbanks. Switzerland gets yodelling, Sweden gets serene silence. Switzerland gets luxury watches, Sweden gets ‘a different kind of luxury – forgetting about time.’
While the vast rolling hills of Sweden don’t closely resemble the steep peaks that are crammed into Switzerland, Euronews reports that 120,000 people per year confuse the two countries.
That figure is specifically the number of people who look up whether or not they’re the same place – the US President probably should have done that before getting the two confused in his NATO speech last year.
We dread to think about all the people who hopped off a plane with their skiing gear and had to just settle for the northern lights instead. But while you’re there, have a look here at all our latest travel tips and guides for Sweden. And if you’re (definitely, definitely) sure you’re in Switzerland? We’ve got a hub for things to do there, too.
Did you see that Japan has introduced new anti-overtourism measures?
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