Swiss parahotel industry with cloudy summer season
Published: Thursday, Nov 14th 2024, 10:50
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The Swiss parahotel industry has had a mixed summer. This is because more locals traveled abroad and the wet weather had a negative impact on bookings. On the other hand, winter is looking good.
Several of the five members of IG Parahotellerie (BnB Switzerland, Interhome, Reka, Schweizer Jugendherbergen SJH and TCS Camping) were unable to match the record season of the previous year, the industry association wrote in a press release on Thursday.
Switzerland's largest campsite operator, TCS Camping, had to accept a 5 percent decline to around 900,000 overnight stays due to the weather. The normally well-booked holidays in spring literally fell through, it said.
"The weather has a major influence on overnight stays. Bookings are often made at very short notice, especially in the low season," explained TCS Head of Tourism Oliver Grützner. But 900,000 overnight stays are still pleasing.
Swiss come less
At Reka, overnight stays fell by 1.3% compared to the previous year, with businesses in Ticino suffering the most. In contrast, turnover rose slightly by 0.4 percent. According to Reka Director Roland Ludwig, demand for vacations abroad was high among the Swiss this year. The lack of domestic guests could not have compensated for the increased demand from guests from abroad.
At the youth hostels, overnight stays and turnover remained almost exactly at the previous year's level. "Among other things, the weather led to some fluctuations in guests' travel behavior and late summer was better booked than early summer," explained CEO Janine Bunte.
Interhome makes gains
One of the winners was the vacation home broker Interhome, which experienced a strong summer with an increase in bookings of five percent. While the number of guests from Switzerland fell by 6.3 percent, bookings from abroad increased. "Switzerland is an attractive destination for many foreign guests, especially tourists from India, the USA, Canada and South Korea," explained Interhome manager Roger Müller.
Dorette Provoost, Managing Director of BnB Switzerland, also speaks of an increase in bookings. "While the number of locals remained stable, we recorded a slight increase in guests from abroad. The most noticeable increase was from France".
Good winter in sight
The picture for the coming winter season is quite different. The forecasts for the five member companies are positive across the board, wrote the IG Parahotellerie. At Interhome, growth of over 7 percent is on the horizon.
At Reka, bookings are a good 6% up on the previous year. Youth hostels are expecting an increase of over five percent in winter. TCS Camping and BnB Switzerland are also expecting growth.
©Keystone/SDA
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