WELSH whisky, beer and cheese could soon be on the menu in Switzerland thanks to a North Wales seaside resort twinning with a world famous skiing village.
New trade links are being established after Llandudno and Champéry, part of the giant Porte du Soleil skiing area, celebrated their new partnership at a special ceremony at the Swiss Embassy in London as part of Wales in London Week.
The town between the Great Orme and Little Orme headlands and the winter sports village 3,000 feet up in the Alps have been linked since 2022, thanks in part to the Welsh seaside town’s artificial ski slope which elite young Swiss skiers have been using for summer practice.
At the same time the Welsh Skiing Championships have found a new home in Champéry and the joint Twinning Association have been active in strengthening the relationship.
The President of the Twinning Association and current Mayor of Llandudno, Councillor Greg Robbins, led a six-strong delegation from the town to a reception at the embassy.
There a joint presentation was made and the Mayor has hailed the relationship as an opportunity to build business, cultural, sporting and leisure links.
Robbins said, “The link dates back to 2018 before Covid got in the way and delayed things but we set up exploratory exchanges in 2020 and we were twinned on August 1, 2022, and the relationship has been growing stronger ever since.
“It’s amazing really. They’re a very well known skiing destination and Llandudno is the Queen of the Welsh resorts.
“We’re seeing the benefits because the company which owns the ski slope has brought it up to national standard and that’s supported the link to Champéry.
“There is the potential for many more links. Llandudno is an important tourism destination, and the Swiss have some of the best-trained tourist staff in the world so there the opportunity to upskill our people with exchange visits.
“Post-Brexit this has been difficult but there have been changes in the rules which should make it easier going forward and there are so many opportunities for schools and businesses to create positive relationships.
“There are a lot of Swiss-owned companies in North Wales and we would also like to see this relationship foster more opportunities for our small businesses to export to Switzerland and the Department of Business and Foreign Trade are being very helpful as have the British Embassy in Bern.
