Fewer day tourists in Ticino due to closed base tunnel
Published: Tuesday, Aug 27th 2024, 19:30
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The extended travel time by train has caused a drop in the number of day tourists in Ticino. After more than a year, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, which was damaged by a derailment, will be fully reopened next Monday.
The director of Ticino Turismo, Angelo Trotta, estimates that around 15 percent fewer day tourists have traveled to Ticino in the past twelve months when asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency.
He hopes that the fall will make up for the poor figures. In addition to the extended rail travel time to the southern canton, the rainy weather in spring and early summer also contributed to the poor figures.
The director of the Hotelleriesuisse Ticino association also believes that the Gotthard Base Tunnel, which has been largely closed to passenger traffic since last August, is partly responsible for the decline in hotel overnight stays in Ticino.
However, the "main reason" for the poor figures is the heavy rainfall, explained Sonja Frey at the request of Keystone-SDA. Until the beginning of July, it rained practically every day in the southern canton.
Fewer visitors on Monte Generoso
Fewer people have also visited Monte Generoso, which is popular with the German-speaking Swiss, in the current season. Between April and June, 15 to 20 percent fewer people visited the Swiss-Italian border mountain compared to the same period last year, the head of marketing told Keystone-SDA.
She believes that both the longer journey over the Gotthard mountain route and the bad weather are responsible for the decline in visitors.
In mid-August last year, a freight train derailed in the Gotthard Base Tunnel. As a result, the majority of passenger traffic had to be rerouted via the mountain route.
©Keystone/SDA
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