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Why Switzerland?
Switzerland is known as the home of the hospitality industry. Hundreds of years ago European travellers would cross Switzerland on the way to visit the ruins of the ancient Greek and Italian civilisations. Soon, due to Swiss hospitality and the quality of the hotels that sprung up to accommodate these travellers, Switzerland became a destination point in itself. People came because of the clean surroundings, pure air and wonderful hospitality.
In 1897, the first hotel school in the world opened in Lausanne and started a long tradition of high quality education in the field of Hospitality, Hotel and Tourism Management studies within Switzerland, for which the country is now internationally renowned.
The Educational system in Switzerland is globally ranked 3rd in the latest 2009-2010 report by the World Economic Forum and is ranked 2nd when it comes to Management Schools. As far as Hospitality Education is concerned, it is ranked, of course,1st.
Switzerland is a very safe and stable country, both economically and politically. In addition, the country’s beautiful scenery, friendly people and cleanliness makes it a wonderful environment to study and live in.
In 2009, Switzerland became a member of the Shengen agreement meaning a very positive change for international students studying in Switzerland as it enables them to travel throughout most of Europe without the need for a Visa.
Perfect and frequent public transportation 7 days a week.
Much more information on Switzerland can be read from the two best Switzerland portals at
www.mySwitzerland.com and www.Swissworld.org.
Why Luzern?
 Luzern is one of the world’s most popular destinations, the centre of tourism in Switzerland and was voted as the most beautiful and safest city of Switzerland in 2010. Furthermore, Luzern is in the center of Europe and one of the main tourist hubs as well as a university town. Students can experience the essence of hospitality and customer service mentality first hand. Luzern’s fame is largely due to its outstanding, beautiful location. Nestling between gentle hillsides, the city lies at the end of Lake Luzern. The unique panorama ranges from Mount Rigi to Mount Pilatus and depending on weather, season or time of day, sets dramatically different moods. Luzern is the main city of the Canton of Luzern, in many ways the capital and cultural centre of Central Switzerland. It offers culture, modern facilities & opportunities for artistic and sporting activities like sailing, surfing, skiing, nordic walking, (mountain-) biking, canoeing and horse riding, all within 1 hours reach from the IMI campus. It is the fourth-largest agglomeration in Switzerland. Luzern’s geographical position on Europe’s most important north-south route, not to mention its magnificent surroundings, has always had a positive influence on the development of this city.
 As Luzern is in the German speaking part of Switzerland, students have the opportunity to improve their German language skills (70% of the population in Switzerland is German speaking). If students study in the German speaking part of Switzerland, this considerably increases their opportunities in getting good internship places as over 4000 hotels out of 5000 are located in the German part of Switzerland. In the field of hospitality and tourism, German is a very important language to know due to the large number of German leisure and business travellers worldwide. Luzern offers sporting activities of every kind, excellent shopping, many cinemas, and a thriving music scene with great live music opportunities.
Finally, Luzern is a fun place for young people to enjoy a drink or snack at any of the restaurants along the lake and river. At the same time, they can work on their projects by accessing the internet through Luzern and free wireless city Internet. Luzern is the first city with free WIFI access in all public cities.Luzern is very international and most people speak English. Being at the true heart of Europe, Luzern is an ideal starting point to access other European cities, a 5-hour train trip brings you to Paris, a flight ticket with any budget airline can bring you to London for as little as 50 US$.
Population: 60.000
Visitors: 4 million per year
Why Kastanienbaum?
The IMI campus is located in Kastanienbaum, 10 minutes by public transport to central Luzern. This area, on the shores of Lake Luzern, is very prestigious, quiet and safe – and so an ideal environment to study in. Bus number 21 from Luzern Railway station takes students to bus stop “Dorni” or “Kastanienbaum”. From there it is approximately 300 meters to the school. |
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