“Roger Federer does not earn money from Switzerland Tourism”: Officials push back against political criticism

Roger Federer has found himself in the middle of a controversy between an MP and Switzerland Tourism regarding his role as brand ambassador for Switzerland Tourism. The 20-time Grand Slam champion has served as a tourism ambassador for his country since 2021, seeking to boost the country's image abroad.

Every summer, Switzerland has attracted a growing number of visitors, with a record 25 million tourists recorded between May and October 2025 during the summer season. While the tourism agency has experienced strong growth—for which they have invested in advertising campaigns—several places are feeling the effects of increasing tourism.

The latest Switzerland Tourism campaign was directed by renowned Swiss director Marc Forster and included the former World No. 1 alongside Hollywood actress Halle Berry. It accumulated over 125 million views on YouTube, double that of the campaign from a year prior which featured Federer and actor Mads Mikkelsen.

The campaign seeks to redirect tourist interest toward Grindelwald for the autumn season; however, this generated issues for local residents, with tourism that locals have perceived as excessive in areas such as Lauterbrunnen, Iseltwald, and Ticino.

Although Federer has simply been a face in the campaign, criticisms were raised against him from the political sphere. It is estimated that about 50 million Swiss Francs (63 million dollars, 53 million euros) have been used as investment in advertising campaigns, which brought recent criticism from David Roth of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland. He has expressed concern regarding the negative effects of excessive tourism in the area and the compatibility of subsidized tourism with the country's sustainability goals.

"Have we generated additional traffic here with taxpayers' money? Is it really worthwhile to attract tourists from all over the world to Switzerland with such expensive campaigns?" the MP criticized regarding the campaign featuring Roger Federer. "Switzerland Tourism is overloading public infrastructure with public funds." The tourism organization responded: "We do not provide information on the budgets of individual projects."

However, the Director of Switzerland Tourism, Martin Nydegger, declared to Blick his defense of the tourism agency as well as Federer himself. "Internally, we estimate that one in six visitors is a result of our global marketing efforts. The interaction between the state and private tourism companies works perfectly. Added to this are the magnificent landscapes, unspoilt nature and fantastic mountains – which are, incidentally, the three main reasons for travelling to Switzerland."

"We don't want to put additional pressure on tourist hotspots that already attract enough visitors from abroad,” Nydegger added. “With Roger Federer and Halle Berry, we are targeting less frequented regions and want to steer tourists more towards the autumn season. That's why we went to Vitznau (on the shores of Lake Lucerne) and Emmetten (in the canton of Nidwalden) with these two stars. These two places are certainly not tourist hotspots."

The tourism official defended that Federer does not earn money at the expense of the advertising campaigns, but rather it is part of his commitment to the country. "Do you want to know if Roger Federer earns money from Switzerland Tourism? I can tell you that he doesn't earn a penny from us. He said it himself at the beginning of our collaboration: ‘I have been successful because I grew up in a country that gave me the stability I needed to be successful. The last thing I want is to receive taxpayers' money for my commitment.”

"We make a modest contribution to Roger Federer's foundation, which uses the funds solely for disadvantaged children in Switzerland. This is stipulated in the contract. And we cannot make this contract public. Nor can I tell you how much the other stars earn. If I could, I would gladly do so, because you would lean across the table to shake my hand if you knew that these celebrities promote Switzerland for such a small amount of money.

"We are a promotional organisation, and we have a mandate from the Swiss Confederation. With figures like Roger Federer and Halle Berry at our disposal, we naturally want our message to reach as many people as possible. And I would add this: with our latest advert, we achieved greater reach than in previous years, despite reduced promotion and budget."