Sweden or Switzerland? Swedish tourist board launches campaign to explain the difference

Sweden’s tourist board has decided it is time to make it clear that the nation is not, in fact, the same country as Switzerland.

According to Visit Sweden, the two countries are constantly being mixed up.

To dispel confusion, the tourist board has launched a humorous new campaign.

Here’s how you can tell the difference between the two European countries.

Visit Sweden’s campaign video is titled ‘Welcome to Sweden (not Switzerland)’ and was circulated on social media this week.

Each year, 120,000 people Google whether Sweden and Switzerland are the same country, according to news site SwissInfo.

A study conducted by Visit Sweden in the US found that half of the respondents were not sure if there was a difference between the two nations.

Even global leaders have made the blunder. During a NATO summit speech last year, US President Joe Biden erroneously referenced Switzerland while discussing Sweden’s bid to join the military alliance.

In the satirical video, an official representative standing at a podium between two Swedish flags addresses the “leaders and citizens of Switzerland.”

She declares that it is time to make the distinction between the two nations clear by deciding “who talks about what.”

Switzerland can talk about mountain tops, yodelling and watches, for example, but Sweden has a communication monopoly over rooftop bars, silence and forgetting about time.

“As long as both tourism organisations stick to this division in all communication with the outside world, the confusion should come to an end,” Sweden proposes.

To make the distinction clear between the two countries, Visit Sweden has also detailed some ways in which the two countries differ on their website.

While Switzerland has one of the world’s largest gold reserves,