The national tourist office of Switzerland has publicly apologised to Oprah Winfrey after the presenter opened up about a racist encounter in the country.

Oprah spoke to US tv programme Entertainment Tonight about her recent visit to Zurich, where she attended the wedding of singer Tina Turner.

Winfrey said that while she was shopping in Zurich, one assistant in an upmarket handbag store refused to serve her.

Oprah told ET that the sales assistant told one of the bags on display was "too expensive" for her.

She said: "I go into a store and I say to the woman, 'Excuse me, may I see the bag right above your head?' and she says to me, 'No. It's too expensive.'"

When Winfrey protested, the shop assistant allegedly replied: "No, no you don't want to see that one, you want to see this one because that one will cost too much. You will not be able to afford that."

Media mogul Oprah is one of the world’s richest women, earning an estimated $77million in the last year alone.

She said the experience was proof that racism continues to be a problem, saying: “it still exists, of course it does.”

The Swiss tourism office posted an apology on Twitter following the interview, saying: "this person acted terribly wrong."

Oprah’s long-running chat how has not aired in Switzerland.