Every year, 120,000 people ask Google whether Sweden is the same country as Switzerland. Yes, really.
Now, 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. Remarkably, according to news site SwissInfo, roughly 120,000 people every year Google whether Sweden and Switzerland are the same country.
To follow this up, Visit Sweden decided to conduct a survey in the US and found that half of the respondents were not sure if there was a difference between the two nations. Once again: Yes, really.
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.
As Visit Sweden's official website says: "People all over the globe keep mixing up Sweden and Switzerland. Some even think we’re the same place. “Sweden (not Switzerland)” is a campaign with the purpose of ending the confusion once and for all. Even if we are two beautiful, European countries with names beginning with ”Sw”, we are definitely different."
To dispel confusion, the Swedish tourist board has launched a humorous new video campaign, titled ‘Welcome to Sweden (not Switzerland)’ which was circulated on social media last week. Let's hope it does the job! And hopefully someone has shown it to Joe Biden.