Interview: Lucerne reaches out to foreign companies

What are the advantages of settling in Lucerne? We have very attractive prices for real estate and houses compared to other areas like Zug, Zurich or Geneva: 20, 30 or sometimes 50 per cent less than those other cantons. Accommodation is more available as well, offering lake and mountain views and within 45 minutes of Zurich Airport.

We also opened a section of the A4 motorway last Friday. It’s a direct highway connection to Zurich reducing travel time by 10 minutes. We have two international schools available here with available places. Then of course we have a variety of cultural events such as classical concerts at the famous Lucerne festival.

For promotion we are sharing events with the cantonal tourist office in foreign markets in China at various expos and in the US as well.

How easy is it to set up a business in Lucerne? We are a service organization sponsored by the government, municipalities and more than 100 companies and this a free service for our clients.

Our aim is to answer their questions, and when they come to Lucerne, we invite the various government departments to meet them: taxes, banks, housing, schools etc.

There are various options to live and work here and we are in close cooperation with the migration office to ease the permit process. Lucerne has enough permits for non EU clients as well. However, they have to fulfil certain criteria, and we advise clients on how feasible their individual projects are.

I understand that you will be reducing corporate taxes? How competitive does this make the canton? We will already reduce them in 2010 by 25 per cent and then a further 50 per cent in 2012 and we can do it because we have 85 per cent from tax revenue from individuals in Lucerne, which is unusual for Switzerland.

By 2012, we will be able to offer the lowest corporate tax in Switzerland – lower than Zug etc. as they stand today.

Tell me more about the current infrastructure and how you intend to improve it? We have some plans for a rail link every 30 minutes to Zurich and we’re increasing buses and local trains around the city and suburbs.

There is a great project for 2016 to have tunnel with a tube below the lake with a journey time of 30 minutes to Zurich. That goes to a vote in November at a cantonal level and then it goes to a federal level.

If all goes well, it would be finished in 2022 at best estimation. However you can also walk across the city in 20 minutes. We have the transport museum and many hotels which offer conference facilities as well as 20 golf clubs. Apart from skiing, sailing and horse riding are also popular.

What about housing and accommodation, which is a great problem in cantons like Geneva? We now have an availability of below one per cent and we need to develop new zones where housing can be built.

We have foreseen eight communes where this can happen. This is in a final phase and we expect this to be approved by the municipalities next summer.

What do the local population think about this new trend? There are always both voices in Lucerne, but the tax reduction was passed by 68 per cent. We have made serious efforts to discuss the future with the population.

Lucerne is an open-minded place, thanks to its tradition of tourism. But out of the city we need to carefully prepare the cases for big projects so that the chances of a positive vote are good.

What else does the region have to offer? A very low crime rate – women can walk home at 2am in the morning – and a close access to the Swiss Alps which is just twenty minutes away.

The city distances allow fathers to go home for lunch, and within 15 minutes we have two smaller airports for those landing with private or business jets.