Anyone who has ever fancied skiing one of the world's largest and most spectacular ski areas, across from the stunning Matterhorn, linking Zermatt to Cervinia, but has not yet done so, can now enjoy the freedom of the pistes virtually by touring the slopes online.
With a Zermatt lift ticket now by far the most expensive in Europe thanks to the strength of the Swiss franc, and when ought in the small village of Tasch down the valley to include a daily rail link to Zermatt, the world's most expensive, it will come as a relief to some that the service is free-of-charge.
It's all thanks to Street View in Google Maps.
"With the help of Google Street View, our guests can - at least virtually - skim down the pistes and enjoy fabulous views of the Matterhorn between holidays," says Daniel Luggen, Resort Director of Zermatt.
Non-skiers or those who have had enough of the heat in a city office, can now cool down with one mouse click - all thanks to Zermatt's large fan community.
With a public vote, in February 2011 the Swiss population selected its favourite ski area from 30 regions and decided which ski region should be filmed first from the Street View snowmobiles.
Around 37,000 people cast their vote and Zermatt was chosen as the favourite ski region – thanks to Zermatt fans!
A survey from March 2011 shows that 53% of all people in Switzerland have used Street View at least once. Street View is also an important tool for planning travel inside and outside Switzerland.
The 25% access from abroad shows the popularity of Swiss pictures on Google Maps. Some 1000 Swiss companies, including Switzerland Tourism, have already integrated Google Maps into their websites.